Mothers

"We never know when a soul may be weary and worn out by the world. When that happens, it seems our children almost always turn first toward Mother, with emotions like those expressed in a poem by Elizabeth Akers Allen:

Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!

I am so weary of toil and of tears, . . .

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,

Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you! . . .

Over my heart, in the days that are flown,

No love like mother-love ever has shone; . . .

None like a mother can charm away pain

From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.

Slumber’s soft calms o’er my heavy lids creep;

Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep!

...

Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers’ love is because it typifies the love of our Savior. As President Joseph F. Smith said, “The love of a true mother comes nearer [to] being like the love of God than any other kind of love”"

Bradley D. Foster 

teaching, living, and listening

"For youth, there is no substitute for seeing the gospel lived in our daily lives. The stripling warriors did not have to wonder what their parents believed. They said, “We do not doubt our mothers knew it” (see Alma 56:47–48). Do our children know what we know? ....

Similarly, mothers and fathers, as you drive or walk children to school or their various activities, do you use the time to talk with them about their hopes and dreams and fears and joys? ... The more I live, the more I recognize that the teaching moments in my youth, especially those provided by my parents, have shaped my life and made me who I am.... 

For our interactions with youth to truly touch their hearts, we have to pay attention to them just as we would pay attention to a trusted adult colleague or close friend. Most important is asking them questions, letting them talk, and then being willing to listen—yes, listen and listen some more—even hearken with spiritual ears!"

Robert D. Hales 

counterproductivity

This is what happens when Sir O gets a hold of a pen, and his mom is busy starting the laundry.



 She comes back to find, "Look mom, (the Capt) is a tiger!"



Oi.  Out comes the rubbing alcohol.

tulipa

Mr Renn had a day full of patients that cancelled in advance yesterday, so we elected to make the most of it and get out of the house.  (Every day Mr Renn's had off in the last month has been spent painting and packing, ugh)
So we packed up and headed out to Longwood, because that's what we do in this family.... and we hadn't seen their new fragrance-themed revamp yet.

We were lucky and caught the very tail-end of the tulips (millions of tulips!)  About 1/5 of the tulips were already dead-headed or dug up, but we were still able to grasp the scope of the massive tulip collection they had going on.








We went on a perfumer's quest inside the conservatory, and the Captain had the most fun he's ever had inside the children's garden.









And Sir O + the whispering bench (a miniature of this one) was a riot:



It's almost enough to make me hope more of Mr Renn's patients cancel, except not really, as we need them to show up so he can finish and we can move!

Family History

"While temple and family history work has the power to bless those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping to exalt their families.We are exalted when we can dwell together with our extended families in the presence of Almighty God. The Prophet Joseph Smith foresaw our duty: “The great day of the Lord is at hand . . . ,” he said. “Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter‑day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple . . . a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.”"

Russell M. Nelson

15 Weeks, by Sir O

My photographer..... boy am I proud.

Resurrection

"Who could persuasively argue that man—the noblest work of the Great Designer, with dominion over all living things, with a brain and a will, with a mind and a soul, with intelligence and divinity—should come to an end when the spirit forsakes its earthly temple?.....The darkness of death can always be dispelled by the light of revealed truth. “I am the resurrection, and the life,” spoke the Master. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” Over the years I have heard and read testimonies too numerous to count, shared with me by individuals who testify of the reality of the Resurrection and who have received, in their hours of greatest need, the peace and comfort promised by the Savior.....My beloved brothers and sisters, in our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: “He is not here: for He is risen.”"

Thomas S. Monson

Azaleas and Strawberries

Sir O had a fabulous day today.  He got to attend his first birthday party (without a parental tag-a-long), got to go to a "french fry store" for dinner, got to see "Brinley's Baby", and got to go to the "Amaleum" (Arboretum).  Because Jenkins Arboretum is really doing their best to replicate heaven right about now.



Imagine walking around surrounded by gobs of blooming azaleas (and in a few more weeks it'll be the rhododendrons), and when you look up, you see scores of majestic trees.



We were all better for it.  (Although to be fair and honest, we did have another potty emergency and this time rhododendron leaves were the casualties.... I'm beginning to think that being in nature gives Sir O the runs....)



Sir O was running around sniffing everything, and whether it had a scent or not, he claimed it smelled like strawberries.  (He currently has such a runny nose I doubt he could smell anything).  It made us laugh.



I am going to miss Spring in Philadelphia something fierce (not quite enough to make up for Winter in Philadelphia, but close!)

fragrance and redolence

Today was my very last floral class at Longwood.  If I weren't so emotionally preoccupied with being overwhelmed right now I think I might become very depressed at that thought.  It has been lovely having something to do that was all about me, in a constructive way.  So I bid that lovely chapter adieu with a class on spring fragrance.  I challenged myself to work fast enough to complete 2 arrangements, and almost succeeded (and almost cut one of my fingers off in my mad rush at the end).  I also had to make my allotment of flowers stretch for 2 arrangements, luckily there were a few extra roses available to me.



This was my first piece, and I couldn't quite figure out a way to photograph it well.  Plus the Lily didn't quite survive the drive home.  Nevertheless it was the first time I felt like I successfully designed something and made my hands do what my brain had envisioned.  That is endlessly exciting for me.



And this was the injury-inducing #2.  I love the fringed tulips and that I was quick enough to take my instructor up on some scented geranium leaves from her garden.  This creation is bound for my friend Jenna, who recently had baby#2.  It's nice to be able to bring people flowers that are actually arranged and not plopped in a vase all the same length, it may be my favorite part of this whole crazy experience. 


Now, to get packed and move and study my guts out and learn hundreds of flower names before June 12th.  I MUST pass this test the first time!!!

Distraction and Love

"We live in a noisy, contentious world, where it is possible to be viewing or listening to information, music, or even pure nonsense virtually every waking hour. If we want to have the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we must find time to slow down, ponder, pray, and live so we are worthy to receive and act upon His promptings. We will avoid major mistakes if we heed His warnings. It is our privilege....to receive light and knowledge from Him even to the perfect day."

 "The Savior’s charge to His disciples to love one another—and the dramatic and powerful way He taught this principle at the Last Supper—is one of the most poignant and beautiful episodes from the last days of His mortal life. He was not teaching a simple class in ethical behavior. This was the Son of God pleading with His Apostles and all disciples who would come after them to remember and follow this most central of His teachings. How we relate and interact with each other is a measure of our willingness to follow Jesus Christ."

Quentin L. Cook

On being shepherds

"Brothers and sisters, we are the angels that Heavenly Father has sent today to bless the children, and we can help them to one day see the face of the Savior as we teach the principles of the gospel and fill our homes with the joy of living them. Together we can come to know Him. We can feel of His love and His blessings. And through Him we can return to the presence of the Father. We do this as we are willing to be obedient, faithful, and diligent in following His teachings.
“Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am” (D&C 93:1)."

Cheryl C. Lant

Hop Skip

I tried to teach Sir O how to play hopscotch today.  Apart from my inability to remember how to draw a decent game of hopscotch, I think this is going to take more than one day.

Hitomi

I got to attend a floral lecture by Hitomi Gilliam last night and it made for a lovely evening.  (The contrast to the lecture I attended a year ago is almost funny).
Her premise was that you don't need a ton of flowers to make a large arrangement that makes a big statement.  She covered lots of techniques for creating structures that only require the addition of a few flowers to be really lovely.  She had the most darling personality, and some strong opinions about the personalities of flowers showing through in a design.  My photos don't begin to do her work justice (especially because I was trying to not be the annoying flash girl during the lecture), but I'm sharing some anyway, because it made me happy and might do the same for someone else today.




















It all makes me itch to get out my tools and try something new.  Luckily I have my last floral class at Longwood this Saturday.  I'm not quite ready to face up to how sad that word "last" makes me.

But for now... back to packing and keeping small boys alive.

Circumstances and You

"In the most difficult circumstances of life, there is often only one source of peace. The Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, extends His grace with the invitation “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He further promises, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you” (John 14:27)....Throughout the world and among the membership of the Church, there is great joy and great pain. Both are part of the plan. Without one, we cannot know the other. “Men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25) and “for it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things” (2 Nephi 2:11) are not contradictory; they are complementary. In describing how he felt when he turned to the Lord, Alma the Younger said, “My soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain” (Alma 36:20)......If you feel you have been wronged—by anyone (a family member, a friend, another member of the Church, a Church leader, a business associate) or by anything (the death of a loved one, health problems, a financial reversal, abuse, addictions)—deal with the matter directly and with all the strength you have. “Hold on thy way” (D&C 122:9); giving up is not an option. And, without delay, turn to the Lord. Exercise all of the faith you have in Him. Let Him share your burden. Allow His grace to lighten your load. We are promised that we will “suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38). Never let an earthly circumstance disable you spiritually."

Donald L. Hallstrom 

Study

"(As) you remember the Resurrection and the price paid and the gift given through the Atonement, ponder what the scriptures teach of those sacred events. Your personal witness of their reality will be strengthened. They must be more than principles you memorize. They must be woven into the very fiber of your being as a powerful bulwark against the rising tide of abomination that infects our world.....My reverence and gratitude for the Atonement of the Holy One of Israel, the Prince of Peace and our Redeemer, continually expand as I strive to understand more about it. I realize that no mortal mind can adequately conceive, nor can human tongue appropriately express, the full significance of all that Jesus Christ has done for our Heavenly Father’s children through His Atonement. Yet it is vital that we each learn what we can about it. The Atonement is that essential ingredient of our Father in Heaven’s plan of happiness without which that plan could not have been activated. Your understanding of the Atonement and the insight it provides for your life will greatly enhance your productive use of all of the knowledge, experience, and skills you acquire in mortal life....I energetically encourage you to establish a personal study plan to better understand and appreciate the incomparable, eternal, infinite consequences of Jesus Christ’s perfect fulfillment of His divinely appointed calling as our Savior and Redeemer."

Richard G. Scott

Constructive/Destructive Sir Paradox

My child is bored, and confused.

YESTERDAY:

Sir O is bored.  He breaks into my (packed) craft stuff for the 8th time, takes the lid off of every ink-pad and marker, and makes what can only be called a horrific mess. 


His quiet finally gives him away, and I find this when I go searching for him.






TODAY:

Sir O is bored.  He digs the vacuum out of the closet, tears all the couch cushions off, and starts vacuuming up the popcorn and other carnage that's hanging out there.



He's in hysterical giggles as he plays with the vacuum hose.



(He opts to do this during his brother's nap, which inevitably wakes the Captain up)  I figure while he's game for cleaning I'll have him help me sweep and mop in the kitchen as well. 



Is this the same child?  Does this feel like multiple personalities to anyone else?

Inclusion

"I hope that we welcome and love all of God’s children, including those who might dress, look, speak, or just do things differently. It is not good to make others feel as though they are deficient. Let us lift those around us. Let us extend a welcoming hand. Let us bestow upon our brothers and sisters in the Church a special measure of humanity, compassion, and charity so that they feel, at long last, they have finally found home. When we are tempted to judge, let us think of the Savior, who “loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. . . .  “[And] he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, . . . [for] all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.”"

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Lust, and what it isn't

"If we stop chopping at the branches of this problem and strike more directly at the root of the tree, not surprisingly we find lust lurking furtively there. Lust is an unsavory word, and it is certainly an unsavory topic for me to address, but there is good reason why in some traditions it is known as the most deadly of the seven deadly sins.
Why is lust such a deadly sin? Well, in addition to the completely Spirit-destroying impact it has upon our souls, I think it is a sin because it defiles the highest and holiest relationship God gives us in mortality—the love that a man and a woman have for each other and the desire that couple has to bring children into a family intended to be forever.
Someone said once that true love must include the idea of permanence. True love endures. But lust changes as quickly as it can turn a pornographic page or glance at yet another potential object for gratification walking by, male or female. True love we are absolutely giddy about—as I am about Sister Holland; we shout it from the housetops. But lust is characterized by shame and stealth and is almost pathologically clandestine—the later and darker the hour the better, with a double-bolted door just in case. Love makes us instinctively reach out to God and other people. Lust, on the other hand, is anything but godly and celebrates self-indulgence. Love comes with open hands and open heart; lust comes with only an open appetite."

Jeffrey R. Holland

still-life

Mr Renn is on his 2nd day of clinical boards.  We are a little edgy at our house, not to mention that the boys don't get their Saturday dose of dad.
But this morning while I was wrapping myself up in angst and prayers, I caught Sir O having a portrait session with his Schleich animals. 



I am loving his camera more all the time.
(this is my shot, not his.... someday I'll pull out that screwdriver and we'll have another art show)

Parents and Watching

"Youth of all ages, even infants, can and do respond to the distinctive spirit of the Book of Mormon. Children may not understand all of the words and stories, but they certainly can feel the “familiar spirit” described by Isaiah (Isaiah 29:4; see also 2 Nephi 26:16). And the questions a child asks, the observations a child shares, and the discussions that occur provide crucial spiritual early warning signals. Importantly, such conversations can help parents to discern what their children are learning, thinking, and feeling about the truths contained in this sacred volume of scripture, as well as the difficulties they may be facing.
.............
The reactions of children to ... impromptu testimony bearing and their eagerness or reluctance to participate are potent sources of spiritual early warning signals. A child’s expression about a lesson learned in family scripture study or a candid statement of concern about a gospel principle or practice can be most illuminating and help parents better understand a child’s specific question or needs. Such discussions—especially when parents are as eager to listen intently as they are to talk—can foster a supportive and secure environment in the home and encourage ongoing communication about difficult topics.
.......................
..The best family home evenings are not necessarily the product of pre-prepared, purchased, or downloaded packets of outlines and visual aids. What a glorious opportunity for family members to search the scriptures together and to be tutored by the Holy Ghost. “For the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; . . . and they did all labor, every man according to his strength” (Alma 1:26)."

David. A. Bednar

Obedience

"Occasionally we believe that there must be an easier way, a shortcut or modification of the Lord’s commandments that will accommodate our individual circumstances. Thoughts such as these fail to acknowledge that strict obedience to God’s laws brings His blessings and failure to abide by His laws leads to foreseeable consequences. At the time of his appointment as President of the Church, Harold B. Lee said: “The safety of the Church lies in the members keeping the commandments. . . . As they keep the commandments, blessings will come.”"

Bruce A. Carlson 

Rescue

"Sometimes we feel that we are weak and lack the strength to rescue others, but the Lord reminds us, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40)."

Koichi Aoyagi 

Faith, Scripture, and Revelation

"The word of God, as Alma said, is like a seed planted in our hearts that produces faith as it begins to grow within us (see Alma 32:27–43; see also Romans 10:13–17). Faith will not come from the study of ancient texts as a purely academic pursuit. It will not come from archaeological digs and discoveries. It will not come from scientific experiments. It will not even come from witnessing miracles. These things may serve to confirm faith, or at times to challenge it, but they do not create faith. Faith comes by the witness of the Holy Spirit to our souls, Spirit to spirit, as we hear or read the word of God. And faith matures as we continue to feast upon the word.
 ........
 Because they expound the doctrine of Christ, the scriptures are accompanied by the Holy Spirit, whose role it is to bear witness of the Father and the Son (see 3 Nephi 11:32). Therefore, being in the scriptures is one way we receive the Holy Ghost. Of course, scripture is given through the Holy Ghost in the first place (see 2 Peter 1:21; D&C 20:26–27; 68:4), and that same Spirit can attest its truth to you and me. Study the scriptures carefully, deliberately. Ponder and pray over them. Scriptures are revelation, and they will bring added revelation. "

D. Todd Christofferson