Blessed

Every once in a while, someone comes along who has such an inspired, righteous, warm presence that I think that, even if I didn't have a solid testimony of the gospel, I would know it was true, simply based upon knowing this person. President Hinckley was one of these people. Another one is President Dalton, our stake president. Every month, the members of our stake are able to listen to him speak, at monthly firesides based upon different topics pertaining to the family. A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to play the organ for the opening and closing hymns at this fireside. This was the first one I was able to attend, due to a nursing baby and general laziness on my part. The topic was Teaching Your Children. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

It would be difficult to list the many things that I learned during this hour. One of the biggest points I took away was this: Are we living and modeling for our children the way we want them to live? This means being a good example, modeling integrity, work, honesty, service, respect for others and accountability. Sure, we go to church. We say our prayers at mealtime, and we probably try to do our weekly FHE even when, if you're like our family, it often ends in utter failure. But do we really model the behavior that we expect from them? As Pres. Dalton pointed out, how often do we say, "Listen to me!" when we never stop to listen to them. How often do we speak out in anger when we're trying to get them to calm down? How often do we demand their love and respect, when our actions are not demonstrating our love and respect for them?

To say I struggle with these things is a gross understatement. How to raise my children in righteousness and teach them to love and respect others consumes most of my waking thoughts. There's so much to do, and so much that I do poorly, or don't do at all. So this week I decided I'd focus on three of Pres. Dalton's bullet-points: 1) Teach them the gospel. 2) Teach your children to love and serve one another. and 3) Teach children obedience. Seriously. If I could successfully do this, I can't even tell you what a difference this would make. But I think I'm realistic enough to know this will be a life-long challenge. And you just have to have a go at it and hope for the best.

Serving and loving one another. This has to be the key, right? So every day this week, we chose a popsicle stick out of a cup with another family member's name. And that is the person they would serve that day. They would need to think of kind things to say or do for that person the entire day.

Here were some first week hiccups:

1) They don't get it. Kind of a big hiccup, right? But I have to tell myself that even if 1% seeps in, slowly they'll understand. For instance, the first day Jonah had Josh's name. So he decided he'd play some board games with Josh. Cause Josh LOVES board games! We had a discussion about how, the next day, he should try to think of something the other person would enjoy, not something that HE would enjoy. The next day, he had my name. He thought maybe we could play some board games together. Doesn't. get. it.

2) It's hard to serve your kids when you're the mom. You're serving them all day long. I'm deciding the key must be to point it out more often. "Noel. I have your name today. So I'm helping you pick up your toys!" (even though I do it every single day).

3) When Lila gets your name, too bad for you.

4) Consistency is key. I'm the worst at this. Some days it just feels like we draw out the popsicle stick and go about our regular day. I'm not sure I have the pep in me to keep it going. Suggestions?

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a sermon. It's just a reminder to me that I need to work on this all of the time. And I'll let you know how the popsicle sticks go. Today I have Lila and she has me. I'll just point out to her that I'm doing her a service when I change her poopy pants.

In the meantime, here are some photos from a family photo shoot at the Wahkeena Falls. Here are some details from the shoot: 1) Lila, the smiliest baby in America, would not smile. 2) Noel lasted for about 2 photos, and then complained the rest of the time. And also ran around the falls not paying attention and giving me a heart attack every time he appeared to be falling off of the rocky terrain. 3) Wendy from Blue Lily Photography is a miracle worker. The fact that we had any salvageable photos, let alone several truly beautiful ones, means maybe we need to stop going to that crappy Portrait Innovations and fork out the bucks for a pro.