Inspired Counsel

Here are the inspiring quotes I loved from the visiting teaching message:
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985): "Home is a haven against the storms and struggles of life. Spirituality is born and nurtured by daily prayer, scripture study, home gospel discussions and related activities, home evenings, family councils, working and playing together, serving each other, and sharing the gospel with those around us. Spirituality is also nurtured in our actions of patience, kindness, and forgiveness toward each other and in our applying gospel principles in the family circle" ("Therefore I Was Taught," Tambuli, Aug. 1982, 2; Ensign, Jan. 1982, 3).
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "I call upon members of the Church and on committed parents, grandparents, and extended family members everywhere to hold fast to [the family] proclamation, to make it a banner not unlike General Moroni's 'title of liberty,' and to commit ourselves to live by its precepts. . . .
"In today's world, where Satan's aggression against the family is so prevalent, parents must do all they can to fortify and defend their families. But their efforts may not be enough. Our most basic institution of family desperately needs help and support from the extended family and the public institutions that surround us" ("What Matters Most Is What Lasts Longest," Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2005, 42–43).
Elder Robert S. Wood of the Seventy: "For too many, responsibility seems to end with hand-wringing and exclamations of dismay. Yet talk without action accomplishes little. We need to be vigorously engaged in the world. If our schools are inadequate or destructive of moral values, we must work with fellow members of the community to bring about change. If our neighborhoods are unsafe or unhealthy, we must join with the civic-minded to devise solutions. If our cities and towns are polluted, not only with noxious gases but soul-destroying addictions and smut, we must labor to find legitimate ways to eliminate such filth. . . . We have the responsibility to be a blessing to others, to our nation, to the world" ("On the Responsible Self," Ensign, Mar. 2002, 30–31).

You can see the entire message here: March Visiting Teaching Message

Multitasking is a must

When you're a Mom you have to know how to multitask. It seems I am never just doing one thing. For instance, I may start out the morning feeding the boys breakfast. Once they are all settled with all they need (10 minutes later) and eating, then I take the opportunity to throw some laundry in the washer. On my way upstairs I grab a few odds and ends that belong up there and put them away. While I'm upstairs getting the laundry, in the boys' bathroom I notice their shoes on the floor so I grab those to bring back down with me to the laundry room. After putting in the laundry and refilling their cereal bowls or juice, I start putting away the dishes left out to dry from the night before and grab me a bowl of cereal to sit down for my breakfast and you get the idea... all day long, trying to squeeze every minute of the day out to get everything done. I'm really not a clean freak nor am I even a semi-clean freak. I have my secret closets and rooms where I can hide the mess. But there seems to always be a million things that need to get done and I haven't figured out yet how to get others to help out around here. (But someday I will!)
I have learned a few secrets to the multitasking. For instance, the bathtub is a wonderful place to keep my boys happy in one place and out of trouble atleast until the water gets so cold their lips start turning blue. One of my favorite multitasks is to get the boys in the tub and then clean their bathroom! Sometimes I even cut their hair first so that I can clean it all up at the same time while they're stuck in the bathtub where they can't scatter the hair all over the house. Another favorite is to get all my baking done at one time. The worst thing about baking/cooking is the messy dishes afterward. But if I can make dinner, bread and my breakfast granola at one time, then I just have one sink of dishes to clean- an awful lot of dishes but they're finished at the same time!
One disclaimer: I feel like there are times when I need to turn off the multitasking. Sometimes I need to concentrate, put all my attention on what I am doing. Time playing or reading with my boys should be such a time. Or really any time with another person, I should give them my full, undivided attention. I have a tendency to be a Martha instead of a Mary. I like the quote by Elder Maxwell: "What are calories compared to good conversations?"

Marjorie Hinckley

One of my favorite people of all time is Marjorie Hinckley, wife of our late prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. In "Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, she offers some wonderful insights about many things, including mothering. She tells this story:

Our children grew up in a semi-rural area. We had a fairly large piece of property with lawns and gardens and orchards and plenty of work to keep the boys out of mischief. A wooded ravine ran through the property; we called it "the hollow."

One day our oldest boy turned up missing. There were lawns to be mowed, irrigation ditches to be cleaned. The hours ticked away. All afternoon I practiced a speech I would give him when he showed up. And show up he did, at mealtime, which I knew he would. "Where have you been?" I asked.

"Down in the hollow."

"And what have you been doing down in the hollow?"

His reply, "Nothing."

Some years later I had rason to be glad that I had not given him the speech. He was home from his mission and a senior at the university. It was test week. He was under a lot of pressure to do well in order to get into the graduate school of his choice. Things were not going too well with his girlfriend. The pressures of adult life were beginning to be felt. I watched him as he drove home from school one afternoon. He got out of the car, kicked a clod of dirt, went over to examine the swelling buds on the lilac tree, came in the kitchen, straddled a chair backwards, and said, "Mom, I had a wonderful childhood, didn't I?"

"Well, I hope so. You did your share of complaining about all the work that had to be done."

"Oh, it was wonderful," he said. "Those long summer days when you could lie on your back in the hollow and listen to the birds sing and watch the ants build their castles."

The memory of the peace of a summer day-- "God's in his heaven, and all's right with the world"-- sustained him when the pressures of adult life began to crowd in.

Things are different now. Children hear so many voices from so many directions. There are so few empty summer days. There are pressures to excel. It has become a challenge to let children be children.

It has never been so important that children have a home that is a place of refuge, a place of peace, a place of unconditional love-- even when the report card may not be what you hoped for.

I love this story. I was very blessed to have had a wonderful childhood full of peaceful summer days, exploring outside and letting my imagination run wild. I was blessed to have inspired parents who helped me develop my talents without putting too much pressure or stress on me. There are so many great things for our children to learn and great experiences for them to have but I think the most important thing is as she says "let children be children" and enjoy a few empty summer days. I think that nature is the best classroom and curiosity and imagination are great teachers. I hope my boys will look back on their childhood and have warm memories that will give them a foundation of security and a sense of what is most important.