I've had it!!! All together my kids have brought home 10 fundraisers. Yes 10!! And while the Federal Government suggests raising our taxes, our State Government continues to cut education funding. HELP!!
Here is the list:
1. Discount cards for local businesses - $10 each and must sell 10 for the sports teams at the high school. Scott and Doug.
2. English Dart Bingo Tickets - $5 each and must sell $20 for the band to travel for competition. Scott and Doug.
3. Chicken Dinner Tickets - $8 each and must sell 10 for the band to travel. Scott and Doug.
4. Raffle Tickets - $2 each and must sell 20 for the soccer team - I don't know what for.... Thomas and Emily.
5. School fundraiser - all those catalogs where you can purchase lovely candles, gorgeous jewelry and delicious chocolates or gift wrap. Thomas and Emily.
Seriously?
I made the high school boys go out and sell to everyone they know. I bought the soccer tickets - how many more friends can I bug or rebug, right? I said "no" to the school fundraiser and Emily's been in tears every day over it this week. Kindergartners believe it's up to them to build the next playground. UGH!
And did you hear Alan Greenspan today? He now thinks it's a good idea to raise taxes. I'm glad the dems are losing the Primaries around the country. (Not that I think any Repbulican is brilliant right now).
OK , calm down, just venting......
Life is Good
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
My First Little Dress for Africa
I love reading the Bible. I love the story in Exodus chapters 35 and 36. During this time the children of Israel were building and furnishing the tabernacle. The Lord commands Moses to take from the people "whosoever is of a willing heart let him bring it" and "every wise hearted among you shall come and make all that the Lord hath commanded".
"And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing"
And all the people brought their jewels, linens, skins, silver, brass, gold and wood for the Lord's offering.
"And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands"
The people brought in abundance and made so much that they soon had more than enough.
"And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much."
I'd like to be a wise hearted woman with a spirit made willing. I know what it feels like, to have that burning desire to help others. I choose to keep that desire even though I am surrounded by wise hearted women who give so much and sometimes feel that what small things I can contribute are not needed. I know I want to be in the group that does too much rather than in the group that does nothing.
I've been looking for a small service project that I can do and that fits my personal desires and interests. I won't be traveling to any third world contries in the near future so that's out of the question. Of course there are plenty of service opportunites in my own back yard and I would love to be involved in a literacy project in my community but that takes me out of the home away from my family. I find it hard to commit to activites that take me away from home simply because I follow the schedules of my children and husband which sometimes requires a lot of flexibility. Unfortunately that makes me less reliable to outside commitments. So my project had to:
1 . include my children, especially Emily
2. fit into my schedule, which means it can be done any day and any hour
3. include a sewing machine (I guess I want to spin like the women in Exodus)
4. be simple, but have the potential to make a difference
This summer my mom introduced me to a project called Little Dresses for Africa and I think it may be the perfect fit.
"Little Dresses for Africa is a non-profit, Christian based organization which provides relief to the children of Africa. Simple dresses are made out of pillow cases and distributed through the orphanages in Central Africa to plant in the hearts of little girls that they are worthy".
"Knowing the history of the girls in Africa, and the difficult road that lay ahead, a small group of ladies returning from a short term mission trip to Malawi began to sew these simple dresses. It continues to grow as groups spring up across America. Dresses and donations have been received from all 50 states and over 65,000 dresses have been distributed in 14 countries of Africa".
As you can see the number of dresses being sent is tremendous. I don't know how many I will be able to make but I'm going to do with the hope that even one dress helps.
With Emily as my model and personal assistant we made our first dress. It's quite simple and took only a few minutes. Emily sat on my lap at the sewing machine and then pulled the thread as we sewed on a cute button. As I explained to her what I was doing she had lots of questions like, "Where does this girl live?", "When we will give her the dress?", What is her name?". It was a pretty cute conversation to have with her. I read of one woman who sent in 500 dresses and also some dolls. It reminded me of some dolls that I made with Karin when she was young. The body is an old-fashioned clothes pin, and fabric scraps and embroidery floss combine to make clothing and hair. We drew on little faces with permanent marker and the dolls were all the colors of the rainbow. I think that one doll would fit perfectly in a small pocket on the dress. I'll add a pocket to the next dress.
Somehow I hope my little dresses and dolls will make a difference for a girl and that the project will make a difference in me and my children.
The slogan on the web site of this project reads: "We're not just sending dresses, we're sending HOPE."
That message reminds me of a story I read and have never,ever forgotten in the November 2006 New Era. I can never read the story of Mariama Kallon and the meaning of a humanitarian kit in her life without crying.
http://lds.org/churchmagazines/NE_2006_1100_Nov_Complete_26951_eng.pdf
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Book Review: Mockingjay
Mockingjay by Suzanne CollinsMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
So, I actually loved reading this series of books but I have to stick with my 3 star rating simply because while the story was a page turner, the writing was not outstanding. I know that if I were to go back and read the books again, I probably would not enjoy them as much. But it's great to have a book to read purely for enjoyment one time through.
Now, enjoy may not be the right word. The premise of the book is pretty horrific. It certainly makes the reader think about what they would do if put in the same circumstances. Unfortunately, those circumstances have occurred in modern civilization - think Roman Coliseum, and you are right in the arena of this book. I do think the author is making some statements about our current society but the plot overshadows the few ideas made.
These books weren't as emotionally disturbing as Lord of the Flies. In that classic book the desire to kill comes from within the children. In this story survival by death is thrust upon the children and I think every reader cheers for the good of human nature to survive. Ultimately, after much death, carnage and intrigue it does survive which makes for a good ending.
Did I like the ending for Katniss? No, call me after you read the book and I'll tell you why.........
View all my reviews
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Rock
This summer Thomas and I read two books by Gennifer Choldenko, Al Capone Does My Shirts and Al Capone Shines My Shoes. (Thanks for the suggestion Peggy). Great little books, we both enjoyed them a lot. In the past I have paid more attention to the stories of the famous prisoners of Alcatraz than I have to the guards, wardens and their families who also lived on the island. These books peaked my interest in the civilian community on the island and their day to day lives there. It had been 20 years since Matt & I visited Alcatraz and so it was fun to take the kids and go for a day.
It does seem weird to put on sweatshirts in August, but the City almost always has fog in the summer. It actually feels good to cool off.
I believe Doug has the TransAmerica building in the palm his hand.
Inside Building 64 where the families of employees lived in apartments. I cannot imagine how cold and wet it must have been.
Al Capone lived here.
I wonder if humiliation meant anything to these criminals. No privacy - ever. Well, except in solitary confinement.
In the bookstore, visiting with a former guard of Alcatraz.
The recreation yard.
The warden's home, destroyed by fire in the 70's.
We also celebrated our anniversary - 24 years.
It does seem weird to put on sweatshirts in August, but the City almost always has fog in the summer. It actually feels good to cool off.
I believe Doug has the TransAmerica building in the palm his hand. 
Inside Building 64 where the families of employees lived in apartments. I cannot imagine how cold and wet it must have been.
Al Capone lived here.
I wonder if humiliation meant anything to these criminals. No privacy - ever. Well, except in solitary confinement.
In the bookstore, visiting with a former guard of Alcatraz.
The recreation yard.
The warden's home, destroyed by fire in the 70's.
We also celebrated our anniversary - 24 years.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
10,000 Hours
Recently, I was visiting with a girlfriend about the book Outliers which we both read this year. I appreciated some insight she shared with me.
A brief synopsis:
One of the things the book discusses is whether there is such a thing as innate talent or is success determined by work. One of the studies considered was conducted at Berlin's Academy of Music. Students were divided into three groups.
I - students with the potential to become world-class soloists
II - students that were good
III - students who were unlikely to ever play professionally and who intended to be teachers in the public school system
Students from all three groups began playing at about the same age - 5years old. In the first few years they practiced about the same amount - 2 to 3 hours per week. But differences began to appear around the age of 8. Students who would end up in the top group (I) began to practice more than the others - about 6 hours a week, by age 12 - 8 hours, by age 14 - 16 hours. By the age of 20 they were practicing 30 or more hours per week. In fact, by the age of 20 the top group had logged in over 10,000 hours of practicing, group II had 8,000 hours and group III had just 4,000 hours.
Outliers gives others examples of this 10,000 hours of work for other success stories from the Beatles to Bill Joy and Bill Gates.
Then my girlfriend reflected on a time when her daughter was in the symphony band and they had attended a workshop that involved playing for a series of judges and then one of the judges working with the band to improve their playing. The woman sat in on the workshop and the judge said to the students that they had played every note correctly and had played every rhythm correctly. He then asked the students what the difference was between them and a professional orchestra. He then said, "It's the quality of the tone." My girlfriend realizes now that it translated to the 10,000 hours. These high school students had not put in 10,000 and thus they did not have the "quality of tone" that professional musicians have.
Here's the idea that has stayed with me:
She then talked about our most recent Stake Conference where a visiting General Authority, Elder Pearson, spoke. She questioned, "What was it about his talk that touched us?" He did not teach us anything new. Every messgae he gave we had heard before and yet we were very touched by him. She concluded that is was the "quality of his tone." Or in other words he had spent 10,000 hours with the Spirit.
I have continued to ponder her thoughts since our discussion. It has made me think almost daily about what I am doing that either allows the Spirit to be in my life or keeps it away. I love the thought of Sister M. Catherine Thomas who describes how easily we will give up the opportunity to live in Zion by, "trying to impose one's will on others, or by criticism, anger, irritability, selfishness, failure to forgive, failure to revere another's agency, retaliation, moodiness, fear, worry, or simply forgetting to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." (Spiritual Lightening, pg 79) These are the things that allow me to either live with or without the Spirit. I've thought about what daily habits I want in both tangible things I do and the attitude I want to have. It requires that I let many of the things I "want" to do - go, because I don't have time to do everything. That's hard.
I've thought about Elder Eyring's talk in the most recent General Conference concerning doing our duty with all diligence. I cannot imagine how hard this man works, and two of his comments struck me - first he said, "When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: 'Remember Him'." His second comment was, " Whenever we remember Him, it becomes easier to resist temptation to want a rest from our priesthod labors." I wonder how at his age and with all he must do, how does he keep doing his labors? And, how can I change my heart to be like his? How do I "remember" correctly? It seems like remembering Christ is easy, but the work of doing our duty is what makes us tired. How do I reconcile those? I think that it must require the Spirit. I know that I've never worked as hard as an apostle, but I do know what it feels like to be both physically and emotionally exhausted and yet my heart has such a desire to continue to serve and do my duty. But there have also been times when I have felt almost rebellious. I've wanted to go on vacation to get away from duties and remain on vacation even when I physically return home.
I guess I hope that searching for the answers to my questions will help my heart change and make it soft and more receptive to the Spirt. I think I want 10,000 hours with the Spirit.
A brief synopsis:
One of the things the book discusses is whether there is such a thing as innate talent or is success determined by work. One of the studies considered was conducted at Berlin's Academy of Music. Students were divided into three groups.
I - students with the potential to become world-class soloists
II - students that were good
III - students who were unlikely to ever play professionally and who intended to be teachers in the public school system
Students from all three groups began playing at about the same age - 5years old. In the first few years they practiced about the same amount - 2 to 3 hours per week. But differences began to appear around the age of 8. Students who would end up in the top group (I) began to practice more than the others - about 6 hours a week, by age 12 - 8 hours, by age 14 - 16 hours. By the age of 20 they were practicing 30 or more hours per week. In fact, by the age of 20 the top group had logged in over 10,000 hours of practicing, group II had 8,000 hours and group III had just 4,000 hours.
Outliers gives others examples of this 10,000 hours of work for other success stories from the Beatles to Bill Joy and Bill Gates.
Then my girlfriend reflected on a time when her daughter was in the symphony band and they had attended a workshop that involved playing for a series of judges and then one of the judges working with the band to improve their playing. The woman sat in on the workshop and the judge said to the students that they had played every note correctly and had played every rhythm correctly. He then asked the students what the difference was between them and a professional orchestra. He then said, "It's the quality of the tone." My girlfriend realizes now that it translated to the 10,000 hours. These high school students had not put in 10,000 and thus they did not have the "quality of tone" that professional musicians have.
Here's the idea that has stayed with me:
She then talked about our most recent Stake Conference where a visiting General Authority, Elder Pearson, spoke. She questioned, "What was it about his talk that touched us?" He did not teach us anything new. Every messgae he gave we had heard before and yet we were very touched by him. She concluded that is was the "quality of his tone." Or in other words he had spent 10,000 hours with the Spirit.
I have continued to ponder her thoughts since our discussion. It has made me think almost daily about what I am doing that either allows the Spirit to be in my life or keeps it away. I love the thought of Sister M. Catherine Thomas who describes how easily we will give up the opportunity to live in Zion by, "trying to impose one's will on others, or by criticism, anger, irritability, selfishness, failure to forgive, failure to revere another's agency, retaliation, moodiness, fear, worry, or simply forgetting to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." (Spiritual Lightening, pg 79) These are the things that allow me to either live with or without the Spirit. I've thought about what daily habits I want in both tangible things I do and the attitude I want to have. It requires that I let many of the things I "want" to do - go, because I don't have time to do everything. That's hard.
I've thought about Elder Eyring's talk in the most recent General Conference concerning doing our duty with all diligence. I cannot imagine how hard this man works, and two of his comments struck me - first he said, "When I find myself drawn away from my priesthood duties by other interests and when my body begs for rest, I give to myself this rallying cry: 'Remember Him'." His second comment was, " Whenever we remember Him, it becomes easier to resist temptation to want a rest from our priesthod labors." I wonder how at his age and with all he must do, how does he keep doing his labors? And, how can I change my heart to be like his? How do I "remember" correctly? It seems like remembering Christ is easy, but the work of doing our duty is what makes us tired. How do I reconcile those? I think that it must require the Spirit. I know that I've never worked as hard as an apostle, but I do know what it feels like to be both physically and emotionally exhausted and yet my heart has such a desire to continue to serve and do my duty. But there have also been times when I have felt almost rebellious. I've wanted to go on vacation to get away from duties and remain on vacation even when I physically return home.
I guess I hope that searching for the answers to my questions will help my heart change and make it soft and more receptive to the Spirt. I think I want 10,000 hours with the Spirit.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
First Day of School and Goodbye to Summer
I can't believe how quickly this summer has passed. I think the kids were ready and excited to return to school; but I enjoy being with them so much, that I really miss them today. My home is much too quiet. Yesterday, we measured everyone as we do at the beginning of each school year. Emily has grown 3 inches since last August. She is wearing a new backpack and didn't even want me to walk her to the door. I have felt sad the last couple of weeks, knowing that my little companion would go off to school without me. It's a stage of motherhood I don't get to repeat and that makes me cry. I stood in line Saturday evening at a wedding reception and visited with a lady in front of me. Even though I don't know this lady well, when I told her my youngest was beginning school, she immediately knew how I was feeling and the tears welled up in my eyes as she verbalized the tenderness in my heart. I was grateful to know I'm not the only woman who enjoys being a mother and being with her children. I look for the promise of eternal increase in the future.
Thomas grew 3 inches as well since last August. We mark all of these measurements on a wall in our garage. I had to laugh when I saw that my sister had added her height and name to the wall when she was here in June for Karin's wedding. Every time Kelly is with me or in my home or in my car, she leave little traces of herself. I love these little surprises. My favorite thing is when my kids say, "You sound just like Aunt Kelly". Kelly did not grow at all last year.
Doug grew 4 inches in a year and started high school this morning. Scott grew 1/2 inch and wished he had grown more. If only he would eat his vegetables. I know my heart is also tender because Scott will not be here next year. I will miss talking to him. We have a lot fun discussing books, history, music and philosophy. The boys were very helpful in preparing me for the RUSH concert (I'm not a follower of RUSH), they made play lists and printed lyrics for me. They are good boys.
For our end-of-summer party, the kids had friends over and we did a BBQ and built a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Here is Thomas and his friend watching for falling starts (Perseid shower). They are too funny.
I love this view from the back patio, across the fountain to the yard.
What can I say? Except that at 2 am I rolled up in a blanket in the backyard to watch the Perseid shower and couldn't go to sleep until the teenagers were home from tping somewhere. It was much later than 2 am when they finally returned.
Emily with cousin Davis.
This summer I have loved watching the boys and their friends play ping pong on the patio outside my kitchen window. This is Matt's good friend, Tristan and some of his family. We love them.
I loved sleeping in the tent.
Tom loved Cub Scout Day Camp.
Almost everyday I think about Ben & Karin's wedding. It was such a perfect event. I'm just so glad that everything was so peaceful and happy. We love the Myer's family and think the world of Ben. It is so fun to read their weekly blog. So Much Joy.
I was so glad my parents could come to the Temple to be with us. It was a long journey for them, but we will always remember it. My father and father-in-law always have so much to talk about. I loved watching them. I was grateful to receive a father's blessing while we had some time together.
The end of the story:
Thomas grew 3 inches as well since last August. We mark all of these measurements on a wall in our garage. I had to laugh when I saw that my sister had added her height and name to the wall when she was here in June for Karin's wedding. Every time Kelly is with me or in my home or in my car, she leave little traces of herself. I love these little surprises. My favorite thing is when my kids say, "You sound just like Aunt Kelly". Kelly did not grow at all last year.
Doug grew 4 inches in a year and started high school this morning. Scott grew 1/2 inch and wished he had grown more. If only he would eat his vegetables. I know my heart is also tender because Scott will not be here next year. I will miss talking to him. We have a lot fun discussing books, history, music and philosophy. The boys were very helpful in preparing me for the RUSH concert (I'm not a follower of RUSH), they made play lists and printed lyrics for me. They are good boys.
For our end-of-summer party, the kids had friends over and we did a BBQ and built a campfire and roasted marshmallows. Here is Thomas and his friend watching for falling starts (Perseid shower). They are too funny.
I love this view from the back patio, across the fountain to the yard.
What can I say? Except that at 2 am I rolled up in a blanket in the backyard to watch the Perseid shower and couldn't go to sleep until the teenagers were home from tping somewhere. It was much later than 2 am when they finally returned.
Emily with cousin Davis.
This summer I have loved watching the boys and their friends play ping pong on the patio outside my kitchen window. This is Matt's good friend, Tristan and some of his family. We love them.
I loved sleeping in the tent.
Tom loved Cub Scout Day Camp.
Almost everyday I think about Ben & Karin's wedding. It was such a perfect event. I'm just so glad that everything was so peaceful and happy. We love the Myer's family and think the world of Ben. It is so fun to read their weekly blog. So Much Joy.
I was so glad my parents could come to the Temple to be with us. It was a long journey for them, but we will always remember it. My father and father-in-law always have so much to talk about. I loved watching them. I was grateful to receive a father's blessing while we had some time together.
The end of the story:At the end of the 1st day of school I picked up Emily. She seemed perfectly fine until she spotted me among the other parents - then she burst into sobs and cried and cried her little heart out. She gave me a big hug and said, "I love you". It made me cry but it also made my day.
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