Mercy

In parenting, if I have learned anything, it is that you learn as you go. I find myself at each new stage with growing children feeling challenged, frustrated, and looking for any help in any form.

One thing with which I struggle is in finding the balance between having high expectations for my children, but also showing mercy when they fall short of those expectations. Being mortal, they are not perfect, and will fall short. I cannot reasonably expect that they will even go through one day without making a mistake. None of us will. We all live life trying our very best, while making many, many mistakes along the way.

When I find myself in a specific parenting challenge that seems impossible, I try to stop and think about how I am parented from above. How does my Heavenly Father handle this situation with me, his child? God, being God, is bound to high expectations and standards. He cannot deviate from these, and expects his children to follow. But He is also endlessly merciful and patient, and wants in every situation to extend this mercy and patience to his children.

These quotes by Joseph Smith, found here, (pg. 428), give me great insight into this struggle:
"God does not look on sin with allowance, but when men have sinned, there must be allowance made for them."
"There should be no license for sin, but mercy should go hand-in-hand with reproof"


This taught me to see that I can and need to set high expectations for my children in our home and in their lives, but when they fall short (and they will), I need to be forgiving, merciful, & long-suffering, just as God is with me.


"I do not dwell upon your faults, and you shall not upon mine. Charity, which is love, covereth a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8)

Garden 2012: Part 2

These pictures were taken one month apart. Check out the raspberries up against the house!! They are growing like crazy, and if every blossom we see right now yields a raspberry, we will have a banner year! This is good news for the husband who loves raspberries like no other fruit, and was disappointed in the 15 total we got last season. It is also great news in general for the garden, because there are bees galore on the plant, and this means they might stick around to pollinate the other plants that always desperately need it--squash & cucs-- later on.

The broccoli is, however, not doing well. I might just have to give up on broccoli after two bad years. It turned out spindly and tall, with one tiny little head on each that was only one bite. With that kind of yield, I would say it is not a good use of the garden space and, thus, it might just get kicked out of the rotation. Sad, because broccoli is one of my favorite veggies, and I really would love to grow it well. I need to do a bit more research about it.

We have had an unbelievably dry May, which is thrilling for the gardeners. The ground has actually been warm and dry enough to put in the warm weather plants. Tomatoes are in the ground (no picture yet), bush beans are planted, spinach, carrots, and peas are growing and I am on the lookout for some good variety of cucumbers that will actually grow, as that was another crop that was a dud for me last year.

Firmness & Boldness

In Mormon chapter 2, we read about a group of Nephites who are in the midst of fighting many battles with their enemies.These particular Nephites were a wicked and unbelieving group, living in the city of Shem, being led by the young & righteous army leader/prophet, Mormon, when, in verse 22, it says, ". . .they (the Lamanites, their enemies) began to come upon us again."

This word again, really stood out to me as significant, because it made me realize that, just as these Nephites had faced the same types of battles with the Lamanites over and over again, so do I face the same kinds of battles in my own life over and over again. Some of my most recent battles include:

1. discouragement (I recently wrote about waging a war against it, but I haven't won the war yet)
2. confusion about how to raise & nurture my children in a challenging world
3. being overwhelmed at the sheer amount of: food that needs to be planned, bought, put away, cooked, served & cleaned up daily, clothes that need to be washed, folded & put away daily, children that need, demand & deserve individual attention daily, and many, many other tasks that face me every single day.

I know that it is valid and perfectly normal to feel these things, but it is not okay to allow myself to be beat up, daily, by these challenges. So what can I do about it?

What did the Nephites do, even in their state of ignorance and willful disobedience?

They looked to their righteous leader, Mormon, who, in verse 23 says, "I did speak unto my people and did urge them with great energy that they would stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives, and their children, and their houses and their homes."

v.24 - 25: "and my words did arouse them somewhat to vigor. . .that they did not flee from before the Lamanites, but did stand with boldness against them. .  .and we did stand before them with such firmness that they did flee from before us.

My ability to stand before these particular challenges with firmness & boldness, and look to my leader, Jesus Christ, for encouragement and strength will be the determining factor in the way I face these battles and not allow them to beat me. I know that as I choose to do things each day that will bring peace to my heart, I will be:

1. energized & happy in the face of discouragement
2. given specific instructions through the spirit to know how to help & encourage each of my children in their specific needs and situations
3. blessed with the ability to see mundane tasks as essential & necessary for an organized, Christ-centered home, and to see that completing them, daily, with happiness is a great way to serve those in my home.

Spring Cleaning

I've never been one for spring cleaning, but I do appreciate a cleaned-out garage, an organized closet, and a large box of discards in the back of the car ready to donate to the local second-hand shop.


But how does one overcome the hate of organizing? Well, finding these two rules has helped this hater:

The two questions are:

If I needed this item, where would I look for it? (take it there)

If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already have one? (If not, get rid of it because I’d just buy a new one if I needed it.)

Rules found here. Also, love this post: laugh out loud about de-slobbing your life and the real challenges that one might face while trying to do it. Very helpful. 

Garden 2012: Part 1

 
In the past month, amidst all the rain, and even one freak snowstorm that dropped 6 inches of heavy, wet snow, I have found the inspiration to get my garden beds filled with fresh compost soil and ready for planting.  

This is the before--leaf mulch and black plastic for months to stave off weeds:

This is the after: filled to the gills with compost, and leaves tilled in with my brand new pitchfork. Also, cabbage and broccoli planted with garden cloth to protect those tender leaves from snails and pouring rain.

Also, found still planted in one bed were these wintered-over carrots: a little stunted in their growth, but extremely sweet and crunchy probably due to being in the cold ground all winter long. That was a fun surprise.

Just a few thoughts

• Lately it seems I get the inspiration to blog once every month. I wish it was more often, but I have been trying to limit my time on the computer and focus more time on the kiddos. Also, during the little free time I have each day when babies are napping and older kids are at school, that time that perhaps was once used for blogging, I have been trying to focus on having a real, meaningful personal scripture study time everyday. I am here to say that has made all the difference in my attitude and the ability I have to really learn how to be a better person and mother. 
• But that's not to say I want to give this up, because I really enjoy reading past posts, and I love reading other people's blogs and keeping up with friends and family in this way.
• Henry is finally potty trained and Thomas is finally sleeping through the night and I am remembering how it is not to feel completely sleep-deprived and short-fused all day long. How glorious it is to get 6ish hours of continuous sleep. Glorious, I tell you.
• The winter rains here in Oregon arrived later than usual, but have just been relentless and about this time of the year, when I look at the whole country forecast and see that so many other states are having a real spring with 70 degree temps and sunshine I have moments of real frustration about our climate.
• But that's not to say that I don't love living here, because I do, and I would rather deal with rain, rain, rain than tornadoes and hurricanes. 
• Also, to anyone who loves podcasts, do you know about the mormon channel? There are so many amazing, inspiring podcasts that you can download to computer or ipod. I particularly love conversations, stories from general conference , and ces firesides.

Handmade Replacements

Owen and James both made valentines for their classmates this year. The actual making of the valentines was such fun and great time spent together, I hope to do it every year even with the little boys as they grow up.

Owen's idea came from here except instead of handing out little animals, he drew his using this great book as a helper. 

James came up with his own idea, of which I don't have a picture. It went something like this: I (picture of a mustache) U a question. Will U B Mine? 

Another handmade replacement idea came to me during a middle-of-the-night nursing session. I really, really didn't want to participate in the buying of trophies for every player of James's basketball team this year, as I think they're too expensive and kind of a silly tradition, so I was trying my best to think of an alternative. 

 

Fortunately the other moms on the team were supportive of the idea, and it turned out to be a lot of fun to make. I used this frosting, as my regular go-to cream cheese frosting would have been too soft, and sewed the blue webbing to the plastic bags.