"A good woman knows..."

I have been thinking a lot in the last 24 hours about the statement on the side bar by Sister Julie B Beck for two reasons:
1- It was reminiscent of a previous talk by Sis Beck given in 2006 that was memorable, even impactual entitled "Mothers who Know." After reviewing it again the section that it directly relates to in this more recent talk is 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."
In 'Handmaids' she continues to say that "a good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence." Boy do I feel that one! What a pull from so many sources, within the Church as well, saying that a woman needs more 'me' time. I admit, I like a little solitude at times, yet the message from general authorities is that there is a time and season to all things. Right now it is my time to focus on my children and the Lord's work. I have tried to simplify our lives in fact, this made me laugh recently:
I had just bought this wonderful placard for my kitchen and hung it on the wall for a great reminder when, we discovered that in order to reinforce my drooping pantry shelves we needed to empty all the shelves of their larder. Thanks to my parents for spending their vacation doing such a task for me, and I didn't mind reorganizing my pantry, it actually looks much better now, as well as much better supported, just the irony of a simplify mantra and a super messy kitchen made me giggle.

Back to Sister Beck....

2. Just as people say 'your eyes are bigger than your stomach,' the companion statement is 'Your heart is bigger than your capacity.' This is truly an injustice (as is not being able to eat a 4 plates of really good food...but I digress again). Why would God plant in us the desire to do so many good things if we are not physically capable of doing them? Isn't that just setting us up for feeling unworthy? And I ere, I know I am missing something really big in this equation. I know because I have seen inklings of it here or there - super hero powers given to myself or others to accomplish way more in a given day than the hours dictate. It must be rooted in Christ and the gift of charity - yet another virtue I am aching to understand, cultivate and become (which reminds me I will get a lot of clues from Pres Uchtdorf's most recent talk "You are my hands"). And again, I am caught in the catch 22, if I have more time I would learn more betta, but I have no time cuz there are too many good things to do - thus if I stop doing good things I will be actually learning less and being less but will not have learned enough to do more betta!! Ah.
Of course that is not Sis Beck's design for this talk, in fact the whole rest of the talk gives a very basic solution to it all: learn to receive personal revelation constantly and youwill be able to prioritize the many tasks correctly and confidently.

Words to Live by by the Week

Gratefully, a friend and I have decided that it is in our best spiritual interest to keep ourselves motivated to study the words of the Prophets and General Authorities. With some handy math we have figured that it will take about 1.6 talks a week from now until next General Conference to get through all of the current addresses that we have. If you would like to join us in our discussions and insights gained from a good study of the talks, here is what we are looking for:
- take home message (this may be in general or more personal)
- major scriptural citations (if there is a story or scripture used as the base, become familiar with it enough to use it again in our own repretoire)
- what are we to do with what we learn - a goal to change, or rather become based on the knowledge we gain.

This week we start with "And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit" by Julie B. Beck, General Releif Society President.

I requested that we start here because it really hit me from the first time I heard it. She talks about how to measure success of a mother in a world where the career driven woman is applauded. She also teaches about how personal revelation will ultimately help us to prioritize our lives correctly. Both topics I am particularly battling with. Any help and suggestions, particularly from great sources such as the scriptures and general authorities is a welcome rope out of this pit I am in.

Chicks

We recently added some pets to the family. And very practical pets at that! They will, in time, exterminate bugs, including scorpions and weeds. They will provide eggs for us, and they are entertaining for me and the kids. Meet some of the pets:

Danny is holding Tubs (named by Danny for the original receptical we brought the babies home in). Tubs is a Plymoth Barred Rock.
This is Doccles, named by Faith. She is a black Cochin.
This is Pink, named by Danny for her color (all colors to Danny for a little while were just pink, thanks to his older sister). She is also a Cochin, they have feathers on their feet and get really puffy.
Faith is talking to Tubs.
Faith is holding Cinderella1. Cinderella1 passed in the first batch of little peeps, all our Ameracuna's didn't make it, I think it was because of the feed that the store gave us with no starter stuff for the really little chicks. We have since added Chicken (named by Jos, how original) and Henny Penny (my chick), both Rhode Island Reds, Cinderella2 a Buffed Longhorn, and Skunky (named by Grandpa) a Barred....um.... I forgot just now. That is 7 total chicks and one big roost and run for us in the family. We love it! They are already starting to eat the ants and crickets! Wahoo!

Raisin Rows Recipe

How To Make Children Sit neatly in a row on the floor in random parts of your house:
1- Give 6 under 4 year old kids a box of raisins each.
2- Let the oldest boy pick a spot on the floor to sit.
3- Have next little boy who wants to be like older boy sit down next to him.
4- Wait for curious little copy-cat twins to see what is happening and they will sit on their own.
5- Add lil' momma on the end next to the girls
6- last little one will want to be a part of the crew
Oila! I line of little ones sitting contentedly eating raisins, and you didn't have to do anything but pass out the snack!

The meat of things

I shop the cheap meat. If I find a good price, I stock up. Until now, everything has gone in the deep freeze. Until I discovered pressure canning meats! What a beautiful thing! You get your meat all cooked at once and then have an instant meal in a bottle, and it doesn't taste like tuna fish! I am in love. Plus, I don't worry about the electricity going out quite as much. I never grew up worrying about meat spoiling since we lived in Idaho and if the freezer went out, you could stash the meat outside for a spell. Here, don't ever put meat outside! I learned at RS that you could can it and thought, 'Mom? Didn't you know?" She did, she just didn't do it. Well, I am converted. Not only that, but I am going to buy my own pressure canner and can everything! Instant meals! Wahoo! No more of that grocery store presservative crap - just home bottled goodness. Nowadays the only thing I get at the store is dairy and meat anyhoo - now I don't need to get the meat for months! I love food storage.

Real Cowboy Magic

Last week we visited a Aden's Feed Barn to check on when they were gonna get in the brand of chicks we want (darn tootin' we are getting chickens as pets and pest control). Aden hisself works there at the feed barn, with his cousin, Leroy. They wear hats, wranglers, and ropers. Both chew tobacco and wouldn't think twice that it was rude to spit around a lady. They answer questions straight forward and inform you on all the stuff you don't really know about a rodeo. Best of all, they are role models of what a real cowboy is, and the kids loved it! Soon as we got home, without any prompting, the kiddos were dressed to the hilt - a quick change for Faith from Cinderella dress and fancy shoes to hat and boots! I only wished I had a rodeo to take them to that day. Thank goodness we haven't weeded the country girl out of me yet and I am makin sure we attend the Fourth of July rodeo back in Idaho. 'You can take the girl out of hicks-ville, but you can't take the hicks-ville out of the girl.'

Upgrades to the Redneck Backyard

When your backyard is bad, and you can't afford to make some drastic changes, it is really really easy just to let it go all together. You become part of the classification of 'gated rednecks.' We may not have our trash out where all can see (thank you HOA), but we keep it untidily in our finely fenced backyard. My backyard is a redneck paradise, with all the upgrades! We just go cement (pronounced see-ment) put in on top of our dirt. It rightly compliments the trash heaps, old and broken barbeque and random tools placed around in heaps. The kids love it, of course! Can't go wrong with a sidewalk for your own training wheels all fresh and trecherously edged. Danny is particularly posessive of his bike and the care thereof. We have a future Harley rider in our midst I might suspect.



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