Ssshhhhh Don't Tell

Adam who never sings at church or with the family always sings whenever he uses the bathroom. And he actually sounds pretty good. But he better not find out I can hear him.

My Family Proclamation in Pictures

Our Family: The  Proclamation

We, The First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God 

And that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. 

Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.

Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.

Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. 

By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.

Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.

Sundays

Some Sundays are actually nice days and church is something to enjoy rather than to get through. Last Sunday, was not that Sunday. It all started... at the beginning. As soon as we stepped out of the car, in fact. You see, Anya was a an even tempered, delightful, easy going two year old. She decided she had enough of being easy going, even tempered and delightful just after she turned 3. Now I find myself saying two things: 1.Who is the 13 teen year old? Anya or Ruth, and 2. Who is the 2 year old? Ruth or Joseph. (You see, it goes both ways). Back to Sunday. Anya did not like the way she was unbuckled. Oh the horror, she began to ball. Then she didn't like that Dad took her out of the car instead of Mom. Then she didn't like that some one else was holding the door for her. Fortunatley, there were programs sitting outside the chapel doors and she did like that. We managed to make it to the pew without further tears.

But, the baby was hungry. Anya, wanted to sit on my lap, Joseph wanted to sit on my lap, and Joshua really did need me to help his hunger pains through the passing of the Sacrament. John (the dad) left to pass the Sacrament. (The dads take this job in our ward because there are so few young men).

I survived the sacrament, but barely. Anya dumped her water into several other cups after she had sipped it, and Joshua grabbed a little cup and dumped it on me. But we survived. As soon as John was seated again, I got up to go feed Joshua. Anya and Joseph decided to come with me. I consented. Then Rachel ran after me too. I sent her back.

To get to the mother's nursing room you have to go through a girls bathroom. I find that kind of yucky, but more people are willing to throw gross diapers there instead of the tiny room with all the feeding moms. (For that I am grateful). Of course as we passed through a bathroom, Anya needed to go. NO WAY, FORGET IT was my reply. So tears in the mothers room, until "Wow, neat, soft rocking chairs!" I sat in one and began feeding Joshua. Anya sat in another and began rocking and laughing. Joseph attacked Anya because he wanted the chair too. Thus, my two toddlers were wrestling and screaming in the mother's room while I tried to feed my baby.  I gave up the nice comfy rocking chair for a stiff harder to balance the baby on chair to keep my toddlers quiet. Thankfully, Joshua eats quickly, especially when there is a lot of commotion in the room.

We had to go through the bathroom again. Anya said she had to go again. I said no again because I did not have the hands available to take her. As we walked back into the chapel, Joseph started yelling "No!" (Sorry, Joe, there was no way I was going to stay another minute in the mother's room with you. Especially since other Mom's were entering as we exited.) Anya was still saying she needed to go potty. John said he would take her.

As John was exiting, Anya somersaulted down the aisle, stood up and declared, "I did a trick!" Lovely. I looked at the clock-- 40 more minutes to go. Joshua was still fussy, and Joseph still wanted my lap only. SIGH.

John came back as I continued to wrestle with the two little boys. He sat down next to Rachel and Anya who started to draw pictures. The older kids were further down the pew gabbing loudly. Rachel said, "I am drawing pooping." Anya said, "I am drawing pooping too." John said, "Don't draw gross things in church. You should draw something happy. Rachel said, "I am drawing Christmas." Anya said, "I am drawing Christmas too."

Meanwhile the older 4 were still gabbing loudly. John grabbed a piece of paper and drew a picture of the Grim Reaper saying, "This will be your fate if you aren't quiet." Weird, but it worked.

Time slowly ticked on. I had and still have no idea who the speakers even were, much less what they actually talked about. But we did make it out alive and although Joseph fell asleep just before the meeting ended, there was no way, I was going to take that kid to Sunday school. We woke him up and sent him off to nursery. I didn't get a bad report about Joseph and Anya in nursery. I think the nursery teachers survived too.

Joshua fussed the other 2 hours, so I left as soon as the clock struck 4 and hauled those little ones into their car seats. As fortune would have it, we had left over dorritos and root beer floats from Saturdays progressive dinner. After two root beer floats and more dorritos than I am willing to admit to eating, I felt better. I think we will have dorritos and root beer floats every Sunday after church!

Today, I want to talk about This sentence:

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.



In paragraph seven of The Family: A Proclamation to the World.I love this paragraph because it is the paragraph that tells us what to do. Most of the Proclamation tells us who we are in relationship to God. That is very important to know. The seventh paragraph tells us what we need to be a forever family.

What to do:

1. Have faith: in Alma 32:21 it states  And now as I said concerning faith, faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true. Since becoming a mother, I have wondered how could I ever have done this without faith. Faith is a driver behind all that we do as a family that is good. I have my large family because of faith. We go to church because of faith. We are kind, and we are trying to have charity because of faith. Family life is amazing, but it is made amazing because of the faith that if we keep the commandments that God has given to his children our lives will be blessed. We have seen this again and again in our family. It is also amazing because of the faith that when we do keep the commandments, we are working toward keeping these amazing family relationships forever.
2. Prayers: We feel closer to each other and closer to God when we pray as a family. We also receive revelation together as a family for the family when we prayer together. I receive patience to deal will all of the little irritating things that pop up through the day only as I pray and ask for it. Yes, prayer helps our family know what to do, and it helps us to act how we should. We need our Heavenly Father, and we find Him together as a family through prayer.
3. Repentance: I think one of the best things John and I have done as parents is apologizing continually to our children when we make mistakes. We apologize when we lose out temper or are impatient or were just wrong about something. It helps all of us to be more humble and to forgive more easily.
4. Forgiveness: Any family can not survive without forgiveness. We must allow for the faults of others in our family, and we must lovingly let things pass everyday. Where there is no forgiveness there is no love.
5. Respect: I am not sure I understand respect very well. There is some sense where we give up on some things we want because we love the other person, and there is admiration for the person who has done a lot for you.
6. Love: love comes through service. We love those we serve and in turn they love us. Love also comes from knowing someone intimately. We love our families when we spend a lot time with them.
7. Compassion: I think this goes along with service too. For a family to be close we must be there for each other when times are tough for an individual in the family. After, I had my eighth baby my mother in law and sister in laws came to my home unannounced and cooked and cleaned, and filled our pantry. They recognized a need, felt compassion, and acted. That is necessary in everyday family life. It helps me not get upset with my 13 year old for spending an hour locked in the bathroom.
8. Work: I like this one. My kids often hear me say that we can't be happy without work. I am that freaky kind of person that cleans and cleans when I am stressed. I develop confidence and I find peace when I work, and I notice the same for my kids. Working together and developing that confidence and that marvelous sense of a a job well done has a very binding effect.
9. Wholesome Recreational Activities: This has got to be everyone's favorite part of being a family. This is where traditions and memories are formed. My kids favorite memories come from vacations we have taken, and day trips and holidays with lots of junk food. I love how John's family gets together all of the time to hang out and eat and play games. John's siblings are so close. They worked together and played together a lot as children and they still work together and play together a lot as adults. I want that for my children too. I have also learned that wholesome recreational activities come at a cost to the mother. They create a lot more work than ordinary life. There are plans to be made, extra food to be made and all of the cleanup. This tends to fall on the mother. But it is so worth it for the closeness it creates and the traditions it makes.

I am grateful for inspired prophets and apostles that tell us what we need for a heavenly home.

The Proclamation: The two final paragraph's

I am going to link in with Chocolate on my Cranium, The Redheaded Hostess,Welcome to the Madness, and We Talk of Christ in writing about The Family: A Proclamation to the World from Sept 9th to the 23rd.

I love the Proclamation. When It came out in September of 1995, I was a bitter, unhappy almost 20 year old college sophmore. I thought family was meant for other people--not me. I did not think I would marry or have kids or any of that. When the Bishopric of my singles ward presented this and taught us about all the other church proclamations and how important this was, I nodded, thought it really had nothing to do with me and went to sleep. 2 years later, I was married, pregnant with my first child, and very happy. At that time as I began planning for a future as a parent, I took more notice of the Proclamation. I did not realize how important it would be to the world and to all of God's children. As I have seen satan's plan to destroy the family unfold in the last 10 years, I have realized how very relevant the Proclamation of the Family is to the entire world.

Today, I am going to focus on the two final paragraph's. They state:

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.
We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

In the last year, I have focused a lot on the final paragraph.  I have seen very organized groups attacking the family. The attacks come in various ways. There are the groups that would destroy marriage. There are groups that would make people think children are a burden and an expense and not worth having. There are groups that promote all types of immorality as normal and acceptable.These groups are actively promoting immorality to children. These group are well funded and very organized. One example is the ACLU (the American Civil Liberties Union). Currently the ACLU is suing school districts around the nation that block pornography and other sexual websites in the school.  See here and here.

When the Proclamation was written in 1995, the First Presicency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles foresaw these events and felt to warn us. They knew our children, the children in Christian and Latter Day Saint homes, would be the people most under attack. They knew that we would need to be armed with the knowledge that we are children of God, that our bodies are a part of God's divine plan for His children, that husband and wives need to work together and that their separate rolls are divinely appointed, and that our gender was part of us before we were born. The Proclamation to the Family is a safety net today against a barrage of false doctrine. We need to defend it and declare it in our homes, in our communities, and in our schools.

Check It Out

I am linking up with, Chocolate on my Cranium, The Redheaded Hostess,Welcome to the Madness, and We Talk of Christ in writing about The Family: A Proclamation to the World from Sept 9th to the 23rd.


Well, I am not really linking up with them. I have not been invited. But, I wanted to write about the Proclamation on the Family too, and I love reading what other people are writing about the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. So check me out in my SCRIPTURE MUSINGS TAB, and check out these other lovely ladies writing to celebrate the family.

I Love These: Recent Photos

Here I am taking a nap on the floor with Joshua next to me playing in a pile of stuffed animals.

I took the little kids to the rides at Liberty Park.

I love the look on Rachel's face here.

The cat taking a nap across the amplifier and printer

Rachel and Anya making room in their bed for their dolls.