Tuesday July 15th

About a year ago I decided to assign days to some of my household chores.  Monday became errand day, because it always became an errand day, no matter what else I had planned.  Tuesday became bread and butter day.  I have to borrow my mom's Bosch to make the bread and make the cream into butter (anyone who would like to buy me a Bosch is perfectly welcome), so I try to do them both on the same day.  Wednesday became bathroom cleaning day because if I don't try to do it on a certain day every week, I will let months go by without cleaning the bathrooms. (I realize I shouldn't be admitting this out loud.  I'm just trying to make you feel better about your bathroom.) And Thursday became vacuuming day.  Vacuuming is my worst chore.  I don't know why it is, but I am much better at cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry and just about everything else.  Unfortunately this is not a story about how I resolved my vacuuming issues.  But we'll keep hoping that I'll figure it out someday.  And of course these aren't the only household chores I do in a week.  These are just the ones that weren't getting done, and so needed some focus.

The problem is, I'm not a very strict taskmaster for myself.  I allow myself all kinds of excuses for getting out of these chores on their assigned days.  I'll usually get bread and butter day done, just because the family will demand bread, and the cream will fill the whole fridge.  No one but me cares about the other things, though, so it's pretty easy to skip them and get away with it.  It does start to bother me if I haven't taken care of these chores in a couple weeks, though, and such was the state of my house this week.  I can't remember why I didn't clean the bathrooms or vacuum last week, but I didn't.  And this week we are leaving for a family reunion on Thursday, so my week is short.  I already wasted yesterday just because I was tired and grouchy all day.  (Gretl was the same way, so maybe it was in the air.) That left today and tomorrow to get all my chores and errands done and get ready for a three day camping trip, and at 2:00 this afternoon I still hadn't done anything worth mentioning.

At 2:00 today I would have told you that none of it was getting done, and maybe we should just stay home from the reunion.  But sitting here at 11:30pm, I can proudly say that I made bread (and it turned out great!), made the butter, and cleaned all three bathrooms.  Boo-yah!!!
There had to have been some divine intervention there, because that's two days of chores done in half of one day!  Plus we had dinner and shuttled kids to activities, besides running Gretl to the potty, starting Dora videos, and everything else that happens in a day at my house.  I am very grateful to the Lord for sending the time warp or the rocket boosters, or whatever it was that happened to make today possible. 

Monday July 14th

 I had to go get milk before I could fix breakfast this morning, so I ran over to the parents' house to get milk.  They have a cow, and have lots of milk to share.  It's so nice that we can not only get milk from them whenever we need it, but also that it's healthier for us than the milk we get in the store.

My dad milks the cow every night and morning, even though he's having some serious issues from a car accident which make his left arm hard to use. I so much appreciate his perseverance, and also their generosity in always sharing with us.

The Lord has blessed us with people who are willing to sacrifice on our behalf, and I am so grateful to Him and to them. 

Sunday July 13th

The lesson in Relief Society today was on the Priesthood, so you know that there was some discussion on the latest events in the news concerning women and the priesthood.  I haven't been following the drama very closely, but I do have a few thoughts on the subject.

There have been some wonderful advances in our world on behalf of women in the last century.  Women have stood strong and gained many new privileges that historically have been denied them.  They can not only vote, but can also receive an education equal to any man's.  They can hold any public office and are seen as capable leaders.  Women are found in every profession, including those traditionally filled by men.  I am grateful that I was born at a time when there are so many opportunities for women to use their talents and abilities.

However, in our efforts to make things equal, we have managed to tip the scale the other way.  Women, to this date, still have the unique ability to bear children.  We are still special and unique and have a divine calling.  But what about men?  Women have slowly taken over every area that used to belong to men alone.  The workplace used to belong to the men, but is now flooded with women - women who are perfectly capable and do an amazing job, I might add.  Men have traditionally held a place at the head of families, but fewer and fewer families now have that blessing.

So what is left for the men?  Are men and women equal now that men have nothing that is their own?  I applaud the advances for women, but I worry about our men.  How will my sons have pride in being men, when men have become superfluous? 

The objective in the beginning was Equal Rights for Women, but I worry that it's become Everything for Women. Would women do a good job in leading the church?  Absolutely.  Would women be responsible priesthood holders?  I'm sure they'd do just as well or better than the men.

But why?

Why do we need to do everything?  We've proven that we're capable of doing anything, but we're also breaking under the strain from trying to do everything.  We're trying to do everything the men do, just to prove that we can, and also trying to doing everything the women do.  Why not let the men do something?  Why not let them lead the church and hold the priesthood?  Don't the women have enough to do already?  Why not let the men have something that is their own, something that makes them special and unique and possessors of a divine calling?

Just because they can do something we can't, doesn't make us unequal.  We can do something they can't, so let's just call it even.  Let's be equal again, with each gender contributing his or her part to make things complete for everyone. 

Saturday July 12th

I somehow ended up with nothing to do today.  Of course there are always dishes and laundry to do, and there is always some part of the house that needs to be cleaned, but all of my scheduled events were either cancelled or postponed, and I found myself free to choose today's activities.  But I was completely lost.  I had no idea how to fill a day that was my own.  It actually made me a little grumpy this morning.

But then Liesl asked me to go driving with her.  She is about to get her driver's license, and just needs a little more practice.  I  decided that would be a good thing to fill up an hour or so. We set off, and decided to follow some back roads that we hadn't been on before.  The first of these just took us around a little hill and spat us back out onto a familiar road very quickly.  So we went looking for another road, and found one.  This one, however, did not spit us out quickly. It held on to us for about three hours.  We ended up going over a mountain, and while the scenery was beautiful, the road was a little rough.  If we had been in a truck or SUV, I'm sure it would have been fine, but we were in a little car that was close to the ground, and not at all suited for the rough dirt roads filled with deep tire ruts and large rocks.  Besides all that, Liesl is a new driver and likes to hug the right side of the road.  There was one time when I was sure we were in trouble. There was another car coming the other direction, and so she was trying to move over to make room on the one lane dirt road.  However, there was one part of the road that was cut away by a large ditch, and I knew that our tire was going in the ditch and we would be in a lot of trouble.  I can't tell you why we were able to glide safely over that ditch.  There had to have been angels holding us up. When I got after Liesl for it, she didn't know what I was talking about.  She hadn't even seen the danger we were in.

I am so glad that the Lord took care of us over that mountain road.  It was nice to spend some time with Liesl and see some of the beautiful world that God has given us, but it could have ended in tragedy any number of times.  I realize that sounds very melodramatic, but anyone who has driven with a new driver will realize that I'm not exaggerating!  I am very grateful to be here writing this post tonight, that we are all safe and sound, and that the Lord loves us and watches over us. 

Friday July 11th

This morning when I woke up I knew that I needed to do something with the Activity Day girls today. I've known this all week, but I just couldn't think of a good activity to do with them.  So I sat up in bed and said a prayer.  I'm pretty good at saying a prayer before I go to bed every night, but not as good at saying a prayer in the morning before I start my day.  I don't know why I don't, because great things always happen.  I said my prayer this morning, asking the Lord what I should do with my Activity Day girls today, and immediately an idea came into my head.  I thought about the temple, and how the girls need to see it as their goal.  Then I thought that I should take them there. Even though they can't really go inside yet, they could still walk around it and feel some of the spirit of the place.  So I sent out a text saying that we were going on a field trip today, and all but one of my girls said they could come!  That is miraculous in itself, because it's so hard to get everyone together, especially in the summer.

Before we left I made a quick run to the dollar store because Marta needed a gift to take to a birthday party.  While I was there I saw the bottled water and felt a nudge from the Spirit to get some.  So I grabbed a couple of six-packs and threw them into a small cooler with some ice.

The trip to the temple went really well.  The girls complained a lot about the heat, so I was very glad that I had water for them to drink.  But they also had fun walking around the temple, and taking pictures on the grounds.  I took them into the lobby, which is as far as they can go without a temple recommend, so now they can at least say they've set foot inside the temple. 

Because they were such good sports about tramping around in the heat, I took them for ice cream afterwards.  As activities go, it was one of our better ones.  I'm so glad I decided to ask the Lord for his suggestion on what to do for an activity today, because His idea was a lot better than any of mine would have been.

Thursday July 10th

It's the little things that make me happy.  I have been trying for what seems like forever to figure out a way to get our whites to be white again.  I know, this is sounding like a DIY homemaker blog, and I love those, but if that's what you're looking for, I'm afraid I can't help you.  I did find someone else's, though, and see their recipe for whitening clothes.  I gave it a try, and it worked ok.  The results weren't spectacular, but the clothes looked better. 

It's amazing what the Lord can do when you turn it over to him.  I finally had the idea (delivered by the Holy Ghost, I know), that I should use that same recipe, but boil the clothes in it.  Have you ever seen Mickey's Christmas Carol, when Scrooge is looking in Jacob Marley's window with the Ghost of Christmas Present, and asks what's in the pot over the fire?  The ghost says, "Oh.  That's your laundry." 
So why not?  It worked for Minnie Mouse, didn't it? 

So I tried it. I put all the cleaning stuff in the bottom of a pot, added a little hot water, added my clothes, and then filled it with enough water to cover the clothes.  I brought it to a boil on the stove, and then let it simmer for several hours.  Even though I started with clean clothes, the water was thick brown by the time I was done.  So gross!  It also started to smell funny.  Like sweat soup.  Super gross! 

Then I threw the whole thing in the washer and washed it.  Then I washed it again with White Brite, put them in the dryer, and held my breath.  And wow!  They looked awesome!  I'll take a better picture in the morning, but here's a sample of the miracle

These are both Friedrich's shirts, one before the whitening process and one after. And believe me when I tell you that I do not have the Photoshop skills to fake this picture.

The Lord is so smart!  So brilliant!  And the fact that he's willing to share even a part of that with me is so very humbling.  Hooray for white shirts!

Wednesday July 9th

About a month and a half ago, I was driving to girls' camp with a bunch of other ladies.  We were going to spend the day with our girls by going on a hike and attending dinner and a fireside.  Anyway, there was one lady in the van that had moved into town recently and I was still trying to get to know.  So I asked her what her interests were, besides mothering.  She seemed pretty stumped, and it got me thinking about how I would answer such a question.  Mothering seems to take up my whole life, but surely I must have some other interests outside of that job?  I mean, I wasn't always a mother, but what did I do before my children came along? So I've been pondering the question ever since. 

 I soon realized that one thing I love is flowers.  This is somewhat unfortunate, because I live in a very dry climate that isn't very good for growing flowers.  But we've manged to come up with a pretty good variety of flowers that will do well here.  It's nothing like the eastern part of the country, but they're still pretty.

 And sure enough, when The Captain's sister came to stay with us for the Fourth of July, she asked me what my hobbies were.  I should have seen that coming from a mile away, because anything you give out generally comes back to you, and I definitely had that coming.  But thank goodness I had given it some thought, and I could tell her that I loved my flowers and spent lots of time on my flower beds.

Today I was thinking that I needed to take some stock photos.  I write my posts late at night, and most of the time I don't know what I'm going to write about until I sit down and stare at the screen for a few minutes.  So I decided to just go out and take some pictures of things in my life that might end up in a blog post so that I would have some pictures on hand.

It didn't take me long to remember that I love photography!  I had so much fun taking pictures of my flowers.  I took pictures of lots of other things, as well, but I especially enjoyed taking pictures of the flowers. I suddenly remembered how I had entered photographs in the county fair and won ribbons.  I remembered that this was one of my hobbies! Hooray!  I have hobbies!  I am more than just a mother! 

Being a mother is the most important thing I do, or will probably ever do, but I am grateful to the Lord for helping me to see that there is more to me than just dishes and laundry. Even though I have lots of kids to take care of, I am still a person with varied interests and talents.  It's so easy to forget. But today the Lord reminded me.