It all started last December when my sister, who is just 15 months younger than I, phoned me to tell me that SURPRISE! She was expecting #5!
And instead of thinking, “Phew, I am SO glad that it’s not me!” I thought, “Oh my, that so could BE me!”
Then come April, a friend of mine who is three years younger than I, emailed me to let me know that SURPRISE! She was expecting #5 - her youngest being five!
And instead of thinking, “Phew, I am SO glad that it’s not me!” I thought, “Oh my, that SO could be me!”
So last month when I started feeling A LOT sick to my stomach and regular smells started making me feel oozy-woozy, it was no surprise that it WAS me expecting #9!!
My children are so ecstatic they hardly know how to contain themselves! In fact, they have known for FOUR weeks and have been incredible about keeping confidence that they spoke not a word to anyone outside our family - until yesterday, when we decided it was all they could handle!
To which one of my boys responded "Mom! Kids in my class keep asking me if we are going to have more kids! I can't WAIT to get to school tomorrow and tell them we ARE! And by the way," he added in all seriousness, "can we have one more baby after this?!"
Gulp.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
And Baby Makes . . .
This month marks the 15th year of The Family: A Proclamation to the World!
I still remember how I felt when President Hinckley presented it during the General Relief Society Meeting in 1995. It has been a guide and a protection as I reflect upon it and study its words.
In fact, I took an extra copy of For the Strength of Youth and cut out the page that has both The Proclamation and The Living Christ document and glued it into my scriptures so I could always have those precious words as part of my standard works!
In fact, I took an extra copy of For the Strength of Youth and cut out the page that has both The Proclamation and The Living Christ document and glued it into my scriptures so I could always have those precious words as part of my standard works!
I share two photos . . . and some exciting news!
Photo #1: "We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force."
Photo #2: "Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."
And the news: We are excitedly expecting baby #9!!! Our children are absolutely delighted and my husband and I are so grateful we have another opportunity to buy stock in diapers all over again!!
I love my family!!!!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Family Home Evening - Come Unto Christ
April 2010 General Conference Talks: Miscellaneous (see below)
Objective: Applying teachings from General Conference that can help our family "Come Unto Christ."
Lesson: Each of our reading children chose a paragraph from a talk of their choice to share and explain how living the principles can help our family come unto Christ.
Some of the things we discussed were:
1. Christ offers us rest and peace if we give to Him our burdens. We defined what "burdens" were and why we giving our burden to Christ is one way we "Come Unto Him."(see Elder Donald L. Hallstrom's talk).
2. Being respectful when we disagree with one another will help in keeping the Spirit in our home. (see Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk).
3. Let's be cheerful in all things - particularly when we don't want to do our chores or fulill our responsibilities because we'd rather be doing other things. (see Elder Robert D. Hales's talk).
4. Being patient will develop our character and make up happy so we won't be grumpy with everyone. It's something I needed to hear today! (see Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk).
5. Finally, and so beautifully, my husband and I were brought to repentance as one of our sons reminded us of our duty to "bear our testimonies so that our children will know where are our hearts are and that we love them." WOW! I am SO grateful for his wisdom! (see Elder Robert D. Hales's talk).
And for our refreshments we were so lucky to have Grandma with us because she brough Ice Cream Toffee Bars!!
Objective: Applying teachings from General Conference that can help our family "Come Unto Christ."
Lesson: Each of our reading children chose a paragraph from a talk of their choice to share and explain how living the principles can help our family come unto Christ.
Some of the things we discussed were:
1. Christ offers us rest and peace if we give to Him our burdens. We defined what "burdens" were and why we giving our burden to Christ is one way we "Come Unto Him."(see Elder Donald L. Hallstrom's talk).
2. Being respectful when we disagree with one another will help in keeping the Spirit in our home. (see Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk).
3. Let's be cheerful in all things - particularly when we don't want to do our chores or fulill our responsibilities because we'd rather be doing other things. (see Elder Robert D. Hales's talk).
4. Being patient will develop our character and make up happy so we won't be grumpy with everyone. It's something I needed to hear today! (see Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk).
5. Finally, and so beautifully, my husband and I were brought to repentance as one of our sons reminded us of our duty to "bear our testimonies so that our children will know where are our hearts are and that we love them." WOW! I am SO grateful for his wisdom! (see Elder Robert D. Hales's talk).
And for our refreshments we were so lucky to have Grandma with us because she brough Ice Cream Toffee Bars!!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Jesus is OUR Savior
Today during Fast and Testimony Meeting a brother stood up and said, “Jesus is MY Savior. Jesus is YOUR Savior. Jesus is your NEIGHBOR’S Savior. Jesus is your CO-WORKER’S Savior.”
When he said that a piercing, yet sweet thought entered into my heart: “And Jesus is your ENEMY’S Savior.”
Piercing, because to someone I am their enemy.
Yet, Jesus is MY Savior!! I know He loves me!
And sweet because those I would consider to be my enemies, Jesus is THEIR Savior, too. He loves them!
How beautiful then becomes this Christ-centered teaching: “Love Thy Enemies.”
For it isn’t just a trite, empty statement.
It is the very doctrine for which He shed His precious, atoning blood of love.
When he said that a piercing, yet sweet thought entered into my heart: “And Jesus is your ENEMY’S Savior.”
Piercing, because to someone I am their enemy.
Yet, Jesus is MY Savior!! I know He loves me!
And sweet because those I would consider to be my enemies, Jesus is THEIR Savior, too. He loves them!
How beautiful then becomes this Christ-centered teaching: “Love Thy Enemies.”
For it isn’t just a trite, empty statement.
It is the very doctrine for which He shed His precious, atoning blood of love.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Stripling Warrior Mothers
“Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children” (The Family, A Proclamation to the World).As I have been studying the principles of faith taught by the mothers of Helaman’s 2,060 (Alma 56:45-48; Alma 57:21), here are some of the teachings they taught their children (because, I am sure, there were plenty of daughters in the mix as well!):
1. Be strong and of a good courage
Here were these Lamanite women converts who had made a covenant, years earlier, NEVER to fight again, let alone pick up a weapon of war. Now, in the midst battles against the Lamanites, they willingly allowed their young (stripling) sons to enter into a covenant that required them to take up their weapons of war to defend their country. Strength and Courage were virtues demonstrated by both mothers and sons.
2. Show respect to men, fathers, priesthood leaders and priesthood authority
These young men called Helaman “Father.” Their mothers had taught them importance of respect for others, for men, for priesthood leadership. I am sure they saw that esteem exemplified within their homes, observing the relationships they had with their husbands as well as priesthood leadership. Sadly today, men are depicted in movies and commercials either as idiots or sexual hunters and gratifiers. Gratefully, at the helm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there are 15 men who represent what a man of God is. Men who respect women; men who honor covenants; men who love the Lord.
3. Cultivate a “go and do” attitude – with the Lord, you can do anything
How else could these young men, without reservation, know, with a certainty, that “our God is with us, and He will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth!” I believe that is what “raising the bar” is all about. It’s about sending 19 year-old young men out into the world with the attitude that that can do anything that is required of them, with God’s help!
4. Faith, not fear
Trying something new or getting out of our comfort-zone should be a time when faith is cultivated, rather than having fear overwhelm. I am sure for these Lamanite mothers moving from a land and a culture they had always known, to go to a land that was taught to be the land of your enemies, was not a very comfortable move. It required faith - for fear would have left them unconverted. But they did something HARD, something DIFFICULT, something that had never been done in their families before. And they took that newness, and turned it into an incredible legacy of faith, obedience and divine motherhood.
5. Demonstrate to others that your service is not about YOU, it is about others
Sometimes our service to others requires the most of us. Sometimes it’s not easy; at other times it’s highly inconvenient and there will be times that it will sacrifice us to the very edge. For these mothers and their sons, their service and their commitment may have lead to an untimely death! But because of their faith in God’s eternal plan, “they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their own lives.”
6. Liberty and Freedom are God-given rights that are to be protected and defended
Hand in hand with teaching their children the principles of faith in Jesus Christ, these mothers also impressed upon the minds and hearts of their children the price that comes to maintain the blessings of liberty and freedom. What a lesson for us in our day!
7. A family is unit of love, support and unity
I believe that these stripling warriors were strengthened even more knowing that their mothers and fathers believed in them. Sending children off to war wouldn’t be my first choice, either. But these young men were equipped with strength and courage and faith.
8. Obedience to every word - with exactness - brings down the blessings – and the miracles – from heaven.
I believe the mothers of Helaman’s 2,060 took this counsel: “Seek not to declare me word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea the power of God unto the convincing of [your children]” (Doctrine and Covenant 11:21). These mothers studied, feasted and then lived the word of God! The word of God, coupled with the words of the prophet, enable them to have their tongues loosed to the convincing of their children that “obedience is the first law of heaven” and that ”sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.”
In studying about these mothers and their sons, I realize have a lot to put into practice as a mother of stripling warriors. But I am so aware of how blessed we are to have the fullness of the gospel place before us, around us and in us as can be strengthened as we “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:44).
I'd love to hear how you're raising your stripling warriors!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
I Know Your Doing
"Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
"And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
"For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
"O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
"Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads" (Mormon 8:35-40)?
I’ve been thinking a lot about what Moroni thought of us - seeing us as he did.
Because he noticed our gluttony - in the way we dress, the way we live, the way we eat, the things on which we choose to spend our money and our time.
He noticed our self-absorption – in the way we treat others and in the way we exalt ourselves.
He certainly noticed our lifestyle – the ease of it all. . .
. . . Like being able to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world by phone, fax, email, text. . . .
Or the our modes of transportation, which was much faster and much more reliable than a horse or a camel or a donkey or by foot. . .
. . . Or the ability to relay information as in using radio, television, satellite or the Internet. . .
. . .Or even the sheer convenience of walking into a grocery store, with its selection of meats, dairy and ice cream . . .
And I believe in seeing this and so much more, Moroni was shocked and saddened at our indifference of living our covenant to take upon us the name of Christ.
After all, he knew we were beneficiaries of the Restoration -
With ALL the truths and doctrines and gospel principles ever revealed to mankind all packed into one, final dispensation!
So maybe Moroni's underlying question was: What are you doing with what you have?
Some the most powerful words penned by Moroni are these:
"Now I, Moroni, . . . had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me. For . . .because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ."
And only as I change the way I live: in my dressing and in my speaking; in my buying and in my spending; in my thoughts and in my deeds, will I, too, be able to say that I, Darla, will not deny the Christ.
Boy, do I have a LOT of work to do!
"And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of very fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
"For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
"O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?
"Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
Yea, why do ye build up your secret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads" (Mormon 8:35-40)?
I’ve been thinking a lot about what Moroni thought of us - seeing us as he did.
Because he noticed our gluttony - in the way we dress, the way we live, the way we eat, the things on which we choose to spend our money and our time.
He noticed our self-absorption – in the way we treat others and in the way we exalt ourselves.
He certainly noticed our lifestyle – the ease of it all. . .
. . . Like being able to communicate with anyone, anywhere in the world by phone, fax, email, text. . . .
Or the our modes of transportation, which was much faster and much more reliable than a horse or a camel or a donkey or by foot. . .
. . . Or the ability to relay information as in using radio, television, satellite or the Internet. . .
. . .Or even the sheer convenience of walking into a grocery store, with its selection of meats, dairy and ice cream . . .
And I believe in seeing this and so much more, Moroni was shocked and saddened at our indifference of living our covenant to take upon us the name of Christ.
After all, he knew we were beneficiaries of the Restoration -
With ALL the truths and doctrines and gospel principles ever revealed to mankind all packed into one, final dispensation!
So maybe Moroni's underlying question was: What are you doing with what you have?
Some the most powerful words penned by Moroni are these:
"Now I, Moroni, . . . had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me. For . . .because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ."
And only as I change the way I live: in my dressing and in my speaking; in my buying and in my spending; in my thoughts and in my deeds, will I, too, be able to say that I, Darla, will not deny the Christ.
Boy, do I have a LOT of work to do!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Happiness of Virtue and Chastity
Today, as I did my errands - with my two youngest children - we found ourselves in a Women's Clinic
As we waited to pick up some information, my children and I sat on a couch in a small waiting room facing a teenage couple. They were comfortably intertwined with one another, which made me uncomfortable!
The girl was crying.
I immediately knew why.
My five year old daughter stared, trying to understand the tears of this young girl.
Several times she whispered in my ear, "Mommy, why is that girl crying?"
Each time I whispered back, "I'll tell you when we get out."
And sure enough, the moment we stepped out of the clinic my daughter wanted to know.
So we walked a few steps and I knelt beside her. The Spirit (the WONDERFUL, INCREDIBLE Holy Ghost) gave me the words to say:
"Honey, that girl and that boy we saw in there are not married to each other and they just found out she is going to have a baby. And the girl is sad."
I could see the look in her eyes. Having babies in our family is a HUGE, HAPPY deal. I could see her confusion.
"Heavenly Father wants us to have babies after we are married. Mommy and Daddy were so happy when we had you and all your brothers because we had you after we were married in the temple. Because that boy and girl did not keep the commandments, and they are not married and now they are going to have a baby, they are sad. And Heavenly Father is sad, too."
My daughter nodded. She understood.
The Spirit provided a beautiful lesson for the both of us on the happiness of virtue and chasity.
As we waited to pick up some information, my children and I sat on a couch in a small waiting room facing a teenage couple. They were comfortably intertwined with one another, which made me uncomfortable!
The girl was crying.
I immediately knew why.
My five year old daughter stared, trying to understand the tears of this young girl.
Several times she whispered in my ear, "Mommy, why is that girl crying?"
Each time I whispered back, "I'll tell you when we get out."
And sure enough, the moment we stepped out of the clinic my daughter wanted to know.
So we walked a few steps and I knelt beside her. The Spirit (the WONDERFUL, INCREDIBLE Holy Ghost) gave me the words to say:
"Honey, that girl and that boy we saw in there are not married to each other and they just found out she is going to have a baby. And the girl is sad."
I could see the look in her eyes. Having babies in our family is a HUGE, HAPPY deal. I could see her confusion.
"Heavenly Father wants us to have babies after we are married. Mommy and Daddy were so happy when we had you and all your brothers because we had you after we were married in the temple. Because that boy and girl did not keep the commandments, and they are not married and now they are going to have a baby, they are sad. And Heavenly Father is sad, too."
My daughter nodded. She understood.
The Spirit provided a beautiful lesson for the both of us on the happiness of virtue and chasity.
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