Tell Me Stories of Jesus

I really like Elder Anderson's talk during conference and now I just need to review it for the week! It was called "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus."

Good quote from Elder Nelson's talk "Generations Linked in Love"

Consider the spiritual connections that are formed when a young woman helps her grandmother enter family information into a computer or when a young man sees the name of his great-grandfather on a census record. When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves. Our inborn yearnings for family connections are fulfilled when we are linked to our ancestors through sacred ordinances of the temple.

Family History

A new talk focus for the week: Generations Linked in Love. My goal for this talk is to start collecting faith-building stories from Tyson and my families so I can share them with my children. I've got to look through the cds that we got from the sister reunion, so this post is short!

Poem

I found this poem on a friend's blog and really liked it. Now I just have to remember what it means!! SPEND MORE TIME WITH MY KIDS AND LESS TIME WORRYING ABOUT THINGS THAT DON'T MATTER!!

Cleaning and scrubbing

can wait 'til tomorrow

For babies grow up,

I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs,

Dust go to sleep,

I'm rocking my baby

and babies don't keep.

-Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Ooh, I just saw an idea to cross stitch this. I should do it!

Mothers and Daughters

"Teach your daughters to find joy in nurturing children." I need to make sure that I am finding the joy so I can teach it! Tyson has really been supportive since Kadri was born. It is a hard time and he just keeps encouraging me. He wrote this in a Mother's Day card to me:
"I know you feel like you are just in survival mode right now, but you are doing much better than that. You are special to all of us. You get to do God's work so directly, though it is demanding and not praised enough. Grant loves you so much. Kadri is lucky to have you, and will love you as well. And of course, I love you more than words can say..." It is a beautiful card and reminds me of the importance of motherhood. Sometimes I think he knows that better than me. He has Elder Holland's talk about mothers memorized, almost word for word! I am grateful to be a mother and to have a loving husband.

Mothers

The longer I am a mother, the more I realize how much my own mom did for me. She could see things that I couldn't and I am so grateful for her. I LOVED this talk by Elder Ballard about mothers and daughters.

Priorities

"A good woman knows that she does not have enough time, energy, or opportunity to take care of all of the people or do all of the worthy things her heart yearns to do. Life is not calm for most women, and each day seems to require the accomplishment of a million things, most of which are important. A good woman must constantly resist alluring and deceptive messages from many sources telling her that she is entitled to more time away from her responsibilities and that she deserves a life of greater ease and independence. But with personal revelation, she can prioritize correctly and navigate this life confidently."
-Julie Beck

I've been struggling a little to know how I should be spending my time now that I have two, and today is the first day that I feel okay about what I did. I played with Grant, read him stories from The Friend, helped him play the piano for about 1 minute :) fed Kadri often and talked and sang to her, read Grant books, wrote some thank yous, read scriptures, cleaned some things on my list with Grant's help... Anyway, I think I focused on the things that I should and it helped me to feel better and more fulfilled and like I might be an okay mom. I have to remember that last part, that I don't "deserve a life of greater ease and independence."

Help Them on Their Way Home

I really liked this quote from President Eyring's talk:

"Heavenly Father has assigned us to a great variety of stations to strengthen and, when needed, to lead travelers to safety. Our most important and powerful assignments are in the family. They are important because the family has the opportunity at the start of a child’s life to put feet firmly on the path home. Parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles are made more powerful guides and rescuers by the bonds of love that are the very nature of a family."

And I was very struck by this quote in his talk:

"The family has an advantage in the first eight years of a child’s life. In those protected years, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Satan’s use of the mists of darkness to hide the path to return home is blocked." That is profound!

He talks about the teenage years and the programs the church has to strengthen them:

"These programs expect consistency, great effort, and the accumulation of learning and spiritual experiences over years.
On reflection I realized that the contents of these booklets are a physical representation of the Lord’s trust in the rising generation and in all of us who love them. And I have seen evidence that the trust is well placed."

"The best counsel for us to give young people is that they can arrive back to Heavenly Father only as they are guided and corrected by the Spirit of God. So if we are wise, we will encourage, praise, and exemplify everything which invites the companionship of the Holy Ghost. When they share with us what they are doing and feeling, we must ourselves have qualified for the Spirit. Then they will feel in our praise and our smiles the approval of God. And should we feel the need to give corrective counsel, they will feel our love and the love of God in it, not rebuke and rejection, which can permit Satan to lead them further away."

I need to be sure that the majority of the things I say to my kids are encouraging and loving. I want them to feel safe and loved at home.