HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Many years ago the First Presidency issued a statement that has had a profound and lasting influence upon me. “Motherhood,” they wrote, “is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.

Because mothers are essential to God’s great plan of happiness, their sacred work is opposed by Satan, who would destroy the family and demean the worth of women.” Russell M. Nelson, “Our Sacred Duty to Honor Women,” Ensign, May 1999, 38

Mothers find the beauty of life wherever it may be...

Womenhood - Mothers Who Know Who They Are...

President Julie B. Beck on motherhood:

“The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”

"However, mothers need not fear. When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children.” Julie B. Beck, “Mothers Who Know,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 76–78

Elder M. Russell Ballard on mothering:

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part-or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else." “Daughters of God,” Ensign, May 2008, 108–10

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)

Field Trip

Earlier this month, I went with Brenton on a field trip to the American Heritage Center. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a chance to see how people lived in 1917. They talked and watched the blacksmith work, they played pioneer children games, did some laundry, made some butter and watched how to use a 1917 wood stove. It was really interesting. They sat in one of the pioneer living rooms and listened to a gentleman tell about the people that used to live in that house. They saw pictures, clothes, instruments and furniture used by them. After this they still had an opportunity to milk a cow! One of the interesting things we learned about the 1917 wood stove was that mothers used to place their premature babies in the stove warmer that is situated in the upper part of the stove!! The warmer was designed to place the bread after it was baked but they also used it to place their premature babies for about 2 weeks!!!! Isn't that amazing???? So right then I told Brenton that since he was born 2 months early that he would have been place in one of those too!!! And he thought that it would have been cool!! The lady who was talking to us about this part also said that a lady who went through this tour was 90 years old and that she had been placed in one of these warmers for two weeks when she was a baby. Wow! Pretty cool! the kids then enjoyed a cookie (and so did I:) baked in that cool 1917 stove and the taste was incomparable.