Glass Houses

I ran across this blog today and was impressed with some of the things she had to share.  It's one of those "Mom Blogs."  This mom is named Sierra and her blog is called "His Eye is on The Sparrow."  I was first led to her through a facebook share of her post on not apologizing for the way our kids ask when they are acting like children (not bad manners but being excited or getting a little too loud).  You can read that post by clicking here.  Anyway, the post I really liked came from a friend of hers that does a quote of the day...I know sharing something someone else shared is lame but I really liked it.  She talked about how easy it is to judge others for their mothering choices  and to feel judged for our choices when the truth is we are all glass houses.  Do we realize how personal and difficult it is to make those decisions and how hurtful it is when someone criticizes our carefully made decisions?  Yes, I too am guilty of this.  The point is that we could all do better.  What I loved about this post is she pointed out the positive of both choices and did it in a humorous way; when describing the decision to use disposable diapers she says, man can those things hold a bunch.  The quote ended by simply saying, "Glass houses, friend. Glass houses." Please go read her full  post here.

My Missionary Service-The Decision To Serve

I've spent a good chunk of my time lately typing up my old journals.  I've always wanted to do it but since I love to write it is quite an undertaking.  My first project is the journal I wrote while serving a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  So as I'm working on this project you get to take part in reliving my missionary opportunity through a series of Missionary Service posts.

 

 The first part of my journey was in deciding to take that journey.  The decision to leave my college education for a 18 months was difficult.  I was nervous and unsure of my ability to share things that are so special to me with other people.  I knew I was committing to be away from my family and dedicate ALL my time to serving others and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For those that don't know part of committing to full-time service means leaving home for 18 months (two years for guys) and having contact only family only through e-mail once a week and letters.  We call home only on Mother's Day and Christmas.

I had felt in my heart that it was something the Lord wanted me to do but it took several months to convince myself that I was capable of actually doing it.  (I actually spent that time fighting with the Lord insisting I could not do this.) For a 20 year-old college student I was pretty unsure of myself.

 

I filled out my application and received my assignment to serve in the Quetzaltenango, Guatemala mission.  I barely knew where Guatemala was (my older sister had lived there for six months) but I was excited.  My fears of inadequacy did not diminish with time but little by little I learned that the Lord would make up for my shortcomings if I would only trust in Him and rely on His ability to work through me. 

 

What was to come was the most amazing, difficult, scary, rewarding time of my life to that point.  It was incredible what I learned and experienced through the next 18 months as the Lord molded me and changed me.  I learned what's really important in life and it was the best decision I've ever made (I would say marrying my husband was the best but if I hadn't grown as a person through my missionary service I would not have been worthy of my husband).  

Being The Mom-Ordinary Heroines

If I were to define the word mother my definition would be "ordinary heroines."  People who do extraordinary things everyday and don't realize their actions are herculean in nature and really amazing.  Those who carry a full bucket of awesome of which they are totally unaware.

I've been a mother for over five years now.  I must admit that I have learned a ton in that time and still quite often have moments when I feel I am an amateur and nowhere near the "ordinary heroine."  When I think of what it means to be a mother I think of the amazing women in my life that embody the term "Mother."  First there is my own mother who taught me that serving others means helping them in the way they want you to help them, even when it's doing a dirty job and that there is joy to be found in the dirtiest of jobs when you are serving others.  This has been of great value to me in doing the dirty jobs of motherhood.  I was also blessed with amazing grandmothers who were amazing examples of love, work, and tireless service.  My mother-in-law is also amazing to me.  I have known her for seven years now and most appreciate her for how easy she is to talk to, how loved I feel when I'm in her home and how my life is blessed everyday by the little lessons she taught her son.  I must also include in this group all the Young Women and Sunday School teachers I had during my teenage years.  They loved me so much at a time in my life when I was not very loveable and only now that I am trying to be one of those leaders do I truly appreciate how amazing they were and how much they blessed my life.

The most amazing thing about all these women is how ordinary they all think they are.  They have no idea how much they teach and touch other's lives.  Due to the awesomeness of these women I have always had a hard time placing myself in their ranks.  I very often have caught myself using the term "mother" in the third person with my children as if there is some other person who knows all the answers and has ultimate authority in all matters (and a full bucket of awesome).

Today I am recognizing how far I've come and officially declaring, "I am a Mother!"  I know I have so much to learn and I will spend the rest of my life slowly filling my bucket of awesome by "mothering" those around me and learning by serving each day.  Thank you to all those mothers who have patiently taught me and continue to teach through example and loving counsel.  You are helping me become the woman of God I want to be and being a mother is a huge part of that.

I also want to recognize the amazing contributions of those who have no children of their own and engage in the work of motherhood in working and blessing the lives of their extended families, church congregations and communities.  You have no idea how much good you do.  Your bucket of awesome is overflowing and you are the most unaware of it.  Thank you.

Smarter Everyday

My husband is an engineer.  In short this means he likes math, science and building things.  The other day he came across this youtube channel called "Smarter Everyday."  They teach science concepts in everyday concepts and explain how they work.

This man is from Alabama and he's just an "average joe" kind of guy who I'm pretty sure is an engineer.  What I like about it is his explanations are simple (minus the math part) and he's really funny.  I keep telling my hubby that if we lived in Alabama I'm sure he'd be friends with this guy.

So take a minute and check it out.  You just might get smarter. :)

Please Feed The Fish

I used to love animals...I guess I still do but am much more aware now of how much work they are...and I have children. Growing up we almost always had a dog, a handful of cats (to eat the mice), a horse and off and on we had other animals including sheep, calves, pigs and wild rabbits.  In the almost seven years we've been married we have often talked of getting a pet.  My husband is partial to birds and fish and I'd rather have a dog or cat.  After a long, somewhat silly conversation one day we had decided the only practical pets we could stand right now would be a pigmy goat or a miniature donkey and we came to that conclusion only because it would eat the lawn.  Neither one of us was serious and the only pet we've had to date, besides our children which totally count as pets, is our virtual fish that live on this blog.  My three-year-old asks if he can feed them almost everyday when I'm working on my computer but half the time I tell him no.  So, when you stop by the blog feed the fish they love it and I'm sure they won't get huge like Otis in the book "Fish Out Of Water."