At the dinner table tonight my daughter started demanding a bath. When my husband and I didn't stop what we were doing (i.e. EATING OUR DINNER) she started jumping up and down while chanting BATH, BATH, BATH at the top of her lungs. When this didn't get the sought after results she wanted, my daughter decided to be helpful, and strip down to her bare essentials and stand outside the bathroom door to illustrate how ready she was. I was exasperated with my first born child, but what could I do? She did need a bath. I quickly got the bath ready, then after helping my daughter into the tub got my baby boy ready, as well. Pretty soon my irritation was washed away as I watched my children giggle and splash each other while trying to keep hold of their bath toys. As I am writing this I am listening to my wonderful husband play with both of my children to give me a moment. I LOVE MY FAMILY. We may not have it all together, but together we sure do have it all. 

Yesterday in my church meeting I was truly edified.  One of the principles taught was, "When you learn it, live it!" As I thought upon this principle I realized how important it was. For why else do we seek learning if not to change? And if we take this a step further...Have we really learned if it hasn't changed us?

I believe that every experience  we have in life is to teach us something. When we do no learn our lesson we are destined to have more "experiences" aimed to teach us what we need to learn.  And how do we know we have truly learned? WE CHANGE! I guess this is more incentive for me to make sure to apply what I learn, for there are some lessons I don't want more then once.

I will never grow tired of watching my husband play on the floor with our darling children. The joy in my daughter's laughter lights my soul up and makes me forget for a moment how utterly exhausted I am from nights dealing with my teething son. Its moments like this I am thankful I chose the path of marriage and parenthood instead of the other options which I have been presented with in my life. 

As Latter-day Saints we know it is vital we anchor our family's in the gospel of Jesus Christ. To help you to do this, I would like to spotlight a talk or article from one of our amazing General Authorities every Wednesday.

This weeks talk is: "Becoming Goodly Parents" by Elder L. Tom Perry
Given in the October 2012 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I love where Elder Perry tells us that,

"Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. While other institutions such as church and school can assist parents to “train up a child in the way he [or she] should go” (Proverbs 22:6), this responsibility ultimately rests on the parents. "

This is sooo true. We as parents bear a great responsibility to our children to make sure we do all in our power to raise them in righteousness. Thankfully The Lord offers many great resources to us to help us in our stewardship.

I honestly feel that what we offer at Moor House Academy is one of those God inspired resources. Mother and I have spent many hours prayerfully creating the resources we offer through our site.

If you haven't checked out our Power of an Hour program (as well as the other educational materials we offer) I encourage you to do so. We offer free samples for most of our products so you can see if it is something that can benefit you and your family.

Yesterday I introduced my darling daughter to the wonderful world of water colors. She was on cloud nine. It was great to see her joy and hear her squeals of delight as she experimented with mixing colors and boldly painting on the papers in front of her. I had to whip out my camera to take a few pictures and send them to my husband at work so he wouldn't miss out. He loved the pictures of course, though he thought I was daring to let her paint in her new Christmas pajamas (which I had made with the help of my mother less then a month ago.) What can I say, we were having a fun lazy morning and luckily she didn't get any on herself. Now that she is big enough I look forward to doing a lot more art projects and other fun activities with my little girl. I think next we will make some Valentines decorations for the house. 

Sunday I had my first opportunity teaching my Sunday school class (I teach the Priests and Laurels) using the new youth curriculum;p. I loved it! Class members I had struggled to get responses from in the past were opening up and sharing personal experiences and insights. The spirit was strong and I feel we all are edified.

In the class we were discussing the importance of recognizing the hand of The Lord in our lives. One insight was that the lords hand in our lives is always a tender mercy (even when it comes in the form of trials, punishments, and corrections) everything The Lord does is to bless us and when we recognize that our understanding and love for The Lord grows. As does our testimony.  However recognizing the Lords hand is just the first part. Next comes expressing gratitude even for the hard stuff, knowing it is all for our eventual benefit. One way we can do this is by keeping a record each day of how we saw The Lord's hand in our life and the lives of our loved ones, and giving thanks in prayer.

I look forward to our upcoming classes this year. I have an amazing class full of youth that I am always learning from.

After spending an enjoyable 30th birthday together with my husband and two small children I found myself going to bed sick at heart thanks to the election/results. As I lay in bed trying to sleep, I found myself thinking about thinking about history, warnings from our founders, greater warnings from living Prophets, signs, prophecies and prophetic dream about what is to come... Needless to say, between that and a teething baby, I didn't get much sleep. And yet, today I feel peace.

This morning, I remembered a lesson I learned from my father years ago. When I was twenty-one I felt a strong call to serve a mission through my church to teach others about Christ. I began to work thirteen-hour days to pay off my school debt and earn the money I needed to go for an 18 month mission. After almost a year of exhausting work, I was soooo close to my goal, when the upper cam shaft of my engine came apart. Thankfully, I heeded the impression to get off the freeway and pull over just moments before it all happened. If I hadn't, then my engine would have exploded and I wouldn't be here. However, I was still looking at having to rebuild the engine to my car, so I could continue to work. I also had to have my car in condition to sell when I left, so I could pay off the remaining amount due on my car loan. Needless to say, I was devastated. The cost of the parts to rebuild my engine was over $1300 and that wouldn't even cover the labor. This was a major setback. At this rate I would never get out. I was having a self-proclaimed pity party when my wise father came and put his arms around me. "Julia, why do you want to serve a mission?" He asked.

"I felt God tell me to go.  But I worry I will never get out there now," I replied.

"Did God know this was going to happen to your car when He called you to serve last year?" He asked.

I thought about it and realized that if God knows everything then. This setback I was going through wasn't a surprise to Him. I told this to my dad. To which he responded, "So, if God knew this was going to happen to you back before he gave you the call, don't you think He prepared a way for you to accomplish what He asked of you?"

I did eventually earn the money I needed to be able to serve a mission, though I didn't get out to serve as quickly as I had wanted. I had more than one poignant moment where I received confirmation that not only was I doing what the Lord desired for me to be doing  (serving a mission to help my brothers and sisters in North Carolina better come unto Christ...), but that I was there at just the right TIME.

As I remembered this experience, I remembered the promise that nothing can frustrate the full purposes of God. Times are going to get harder, of that I have no doubt. However, I have no doubt that the Lord knew what the outcome of this last election would be long before we did and has provided a way for all who turn to Him. Knowing this helped, but I was still a little worried about what is coming. If even a portion of the prophetic warnings and prophesies come to pass things are going to get really scary.

Then I remembered a line in my patriarchal blessing that has helped me greatly in my life.  I feel it is ok to share this one little part with you, for maybe it will have the power to help bring you some peace in the midst of the storm we face (since I believe it can apply to all who qualify).

"The work is being hastened and quickened and the hearts of men in many nations are waxing cold, brother to brother, and family to family. But I bless the, dear Julia that you will always keep in mind the sweetness and truthfulness of the word of The Lord. Live it, keep it, and teach it. Then you shall have no fear in the events of the earth. You shall walk in the light of spirituality and the light of truth, and feel the presence of the angels of God, even so those guardian angels that may from time to time, of necessity watch over thee and keep thee from harm’s way."

Like I said, last night I went to bed sick at heart. I let my fears prey upon my mind, but no more. Now I have peace for I know what to do.

Let us all walk in the light of spirituality and truth that we may qualify to have the angels of God as our companions. If we do so, we have no need to fear. It is time to turn our hearts even more to God and to prepare ourselves spiritually, as well as, temporally. For as The Lord has said, "if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear."

I spoke to husband and we agreed there is a lot we can do to help both ourselves and our family to strengthen our faith in God and to prepare so that we can walk in the light.

"Today, there are three kinds of people:  the have's, the have-not's, and the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have's." - Earl Wilson