General Conference Pep Rally

(FYI: General Conference is a semi-annual worldwide conference held in SLC, UT and broadcasted all over the world.  We hear inspired messages from living prophets and apostles on the earth today who serve the Lord, Jesus Christ just like prophets did in ancient times, as taught in the Bible.  We are so blessed to live in a time when it's so easy to have access to these teachings!  Satellite, cable, internet access, etc. bring these messages directly do our home and then the following month, every talk is printed up in the Ensign (a magazine) so we can reread the messages and study them, applying them to our lives to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us.  Cool, huh?  Anyone can participate, if you're interested let me know and I will tell you how!)  

Okay, it wasn't exactly a pep rally, but I nearly felt as if I had attended one after last Saturday's General Relief Society broadcast.  It was such a good broadcast; the talks were great and I felt so inspired/uplifted!  It made me so excited for this weekend's General Conference!

All of the talks were great but two of them really stood out to me.  I took notes on all of them, but you can easily tell which two spoke the most to me.  I think they were exactly what I needed to hear at the time.   In fact, I know they were.  If you missed the broadcast, or would like a reminder, here are the notes I took.  Also, watch for the talks in November's Ensign.  Everyone should read President Uchtdorf's message; it was just THAT GOOD.

(Another FYI: The Relief Society is an organization of women 18 years and older.  Every woman in the church is a member of the Relief Society; it is the largest women's organization in the world and just as the name implies, it is an organization that seeks to bring relief: physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.)

Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President
There is more to be done. 
It is time for Relief Society to fulfill it's purpose as never before. 
The purposes of Relief Society:

• Increase faith and personal righteousness
• Strengthen families and homes
• Serve the Lord and His children

She shared a personal experience of when she was a young newlywed and lived close to her parents.  When it came time for her parents to move to another part of the world, she cried and asked her mom, "Who will be my mother?"  Her mother counseled her that she should "tie" herself to the Relief Society.  They would teach her, help her, serve her, love her.  The Relief Society would be her "mother".
We do the work of the Lord as we seek, receive, and act on personal revelation; without it we cannot succeed, with it we cannot fail.

Silvia Allred, General Relief Society 1st Counselor
We make covenants to show our devotion to build up the kindgom.

Barbara Thompson, General Relief Society 2nd Counselor
Service in Relief Society magnifies and sanctifies.
The Relief Society is the Lord's organization for women. 
We need women to step up and be strong. 
Declare the truth with strength, faith, and boldness.
Set an example of righteousness.
Be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 2nd Counselor in the First Presidency
Women sometimes undervalue their abilities.  They have an inner desire to please the Lord to the best of their abilities, which is good, but sometimes it makes them feel inadequate and overwhelmed.
How can we taste of God's happiness even with our burdens?
We are spirit daughters of the most creative being in existence.
Seek and experiece eternal happiness.  One way is by creating things.  As mothers, we create life but we also teach and nurture (a way to create which will bring happiness).
We all have talents and gifts.
Creation = bringing into existence something that did not exist before. 
It does NOT need to be PERFECT!
Start small.  Create smiles, write letters of appreciation, etc.
Trust and rely on the Spirit as we create and improve the world around us.
Service and sacrifice open the windows of Heaven.The number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness but the numbers of prayers we answer may be of greater importance.

As I listened to these talks, I felt the spirit witness to me that the messages were true and of great importance to me, especially right now.  I felt the spirit prompt me in how I can improve in these areas.  I know that this broadcast was for all of the Relief Society sisters all over the world, but I can't help but feel some of those talks were just for me.  I have felt inspired to make some changes and I've been trying to apply them (a stong emphasis on the word "trying"; it is easier said than done).  I know that by following these promptings of the spirit, I will be happier and that I'll be a better wife/mother, as well as being a better servant of my Heavenly Father.  I want to do His will and I want Him to be able to count on me to act when He needs me to act. 

I just cannot wait until this weekend!  Two full days of inspired messages for us, living right now in these times.  With all the crazy chaos and scary situations that we see around us in the world today, we could DEFINITELY use some divine guidance!  I love our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson and I know he is a living prophet of God.  I know he is led by our Savior; this is His church and He speaks through His prophets and apostles. 

It is exciting to know that God loves us and wants to talk to us.  I hope we all set aside this weekend to hear exactly what it is that He has to say.

Manipulation?

Maybe. lol

Rori is excellent at getting ready for prayer (folding her arms and closing her eyes) and then saying "Amen" at the end. However, I have only managed to get her to say it herself (repeating after me) once or twice.

Finally, today I had a brilliant idea. (If I do say so myself. lol) This time, after having her refuse to repeat the prayer with me (yet again), I asked Acadia to show Rori how to repeat what I say. Of course, Cadi was willing to help. We didn't even get past the "Dear Heavenly Father" before Rori realized what Cadi was doing and just HAD to do it, too. So, all three of us said the prayer together.

HA! Take that, toddler! Who outsmarted who this time? Not to mention, who found a way to get that darned sibling rivarly to work in MY favor for a change! lol

Conversations

So "typical Acadia"...

Before School -

Cadi: I'm afraid to go to school today.
Me: Why?
Cadi: There's going to be a new kid in school today.
Me: Well, that shouldn't make any difference. Either you'll meet a new friend of it will just be another kid at school.

After School -

Cadi: Mom, remember the new kid in school?
Me: Yes.
Cadi: We're BFFs and I gave her my number, we want to have a playdate.

together is a wonderful place to be

A month or so ago, I ordered this saying from my friend's home party for my bedroom wall.  I love it!  Ryan loves it!  And so, I share:

Sing, sing a song!

Today Acadia started choir at school. I'm really pleased that she is wants to be so involved. I don't even mind that it requires her arriving at school an hour early twice a week. It just kicks my butt in gear a little earlier those days! ;)

I'm anxious to hear how it went. Cadi has a sweet and pretty voice and I know that if she learns how to use it, she could develop it into a beautiful talent. I'm excited that she has the opportunity to start now. And for free! :D

I vant to suck your blood!

Yesterday we began discussing what we want to be for Halloween. Acadia said that she wanted to be a vampire. Now, last year she had decided to be a horse, then wanted to switch to a vampire but instead combined it into one and was a vampire horse. What? You've never heard of a vampire horse? ;)

I told her that she could only be a vampire if she did it the right way: no fangs, no capes; she had to be a true vampire. A Twilight vampire. Well, that started her thinking... Soon we were all going to be vampires. We would be the Cullen Family. lol It was fun to talk about it for a little bit but of course, none of us could pull off being a vampire. Well, probably Rori could. She's cute (and dangerous) enough. ;)

I don't know where that leaves us for Halloween. But I do know that the only thing I found consoling about knowing we could never really dress up as the Cullens successfully was that I knew I could at least blog about the idea of it. :)

Has this ever happened to you?

You've just gotten home from the gym and grocery shopping and figure since you're gross already, it would be a good time to mow the lawn. So you are laying your toddler down for a nap and about to go mow your yard. The house is a mess, the dishes piled in the sink, the dandelions are about a foot tall in your "lawn" (really, there's no grass, just the dandelions), you're all sweaty, and you get a phone call. The person on the other end knows who you are but you don't have a clue who they are. He tells you he dated your mom in college and recently had reconnected with her and happens to be in Vancouver and would love to meet you. Nearly insists on it. But it has to be now because they are about to drive home.

Uh.

So, here's my thought process: I'm home alone and clearly this person knows who I am and who my mom is, or at least claims to. I got him to talk a little more and based on things he said about my mom I determined he really did know who she was, really is friends with her, so I'm pretty sure it's not some serial killer or even an undercover investigator trying to trick me into meeting them so they can show me on 48 Hours to demonstrate what NOT to do if a stranger calls and wants to come over to your house. (I could just see it, I'd be the person everyone would be thinking, "What an idiot! Why would you tell them your address and give the directions? You don't know who they are! Just tell them you're not interested!!!" So I went ahead and invited them over.

As soon as we got off the phone, I called my mom and asked her who this guy was. (And if I needed to dead bolt the front door and call the cops. lol) She felt bad because she had meant to tell me he had said he might be around but she said she didn't give him my number and she had no idea when he was going to be in town, so she didn't really think he'd actually call me. Anyhow, she insisted he was a nice guy, he wasn't going to be any danger (and he wasn't going to bring a camera crew and tell me how gullible I was). And she also reminded me that if he was inviting himself over at the last minute, then he was taking the risk of coming when the house was a mess and the weeds were tall. lol

So, I did quickly sweep the floor, or at least most of it, and I did change clothes, and just as I finished putting away the dishes in the dishwasher, the doorbell rang. All the time, I'm thinking: I don't know this person (or his wife, she was coming too), what on earth will we talk about, and why does he care to meet me - he doesn't know me!? Fortunately, he was easy to talk to, his wife was friendly and apparently thought he was weird for contacting me with no warning, too (lol). He said he knew that but he didn't care. lol Anyhow, they stayed for about half an hour maybe? And then left.

Very interesting. It was totally unexpected, caught me completely off guard. So, siblings beware: Mom's old boyfriends may one day call you up asking if they can come over to meet you without warning. And while we all know which one we would LOVE to have randomly call us and drop by (but with a little more warning), say WITH THEIR FATHER... it's not that one. ;) lol