I'm beginning to see

Now that I'm a parent, I'm starting to understand the emotions of a parent.
Like, I watch other more experienced parents, with children who wander from what they have been taught, and how they handle their kids. Some kids go to extremes. And it hurts, the parents hurt, because they know the ultimate outcome for that child. It hurts even more, when they say, "I love you" right after an act (whether small or big) that would never have been appropriate when they were small.
Do they really love their parents... really? When they purposely love themselves and other things more? They must not understand what it is to be a parent. I don't think that love is comprehended. In a way, they are still small children, out on their own. There is no describing the depth, width, and length of a parents love. A child without that expericence, just doesn't comprehend it.
In a kids mind, all they know how to do is think about "me". Caring about other people, is something that is learned along the way. I guess it's just the nature of human beings. We all struggle with it. On the flip side, a parent may want a child to do something, not for the child, but for themselves. Usually, there is praise envolved for both parties.
Back to my point though; being a parent brings the greatest joy and the greatest pain to individuals who experience it. God made it that way on purpose. My guess, is that it's His way of teaching us what it feels like to be Him, in some very tiny way. How often, does He have a child purposely do something that hurts him, and then turn around right after and say, almost laughingly, "I love you." I love what God does with those children. He loves them enough to be patient, and let them face the natural consequences of those actions. He's there for advise, if the child is ready to listen, but ultimately, that child is left to themselves to learn for themselves.
I personally, havn't gone through that yet. My kids are to young. I am, however, grateful for my parents who can guide me through it, when my kids do hit the age of accountablilty. Even if they are not there, I'm grateful for the examples they are now.
Strong families, strong marriages, and strong faith are needed now more than ever. I'm glad that I'm a parent; and I'm glad for the experiences of others who teach me how to be a good one.

The World We Live In

I'm worried about our country, and other countries around the world. Do we really think that we are exempt from the mistakes of the past? I don't think the people of Egypt, or Rome, or the Monorchies, or the times of Ancient Biblical Governments ever thought they would fall. Nebacadnezzar thought that was so in his case, and he did not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, God still saw fit to dethrown him, because of his unbelief- even after the miricals of the prophets shown him.
We, in this age, have forgotten so many important things pertaining to how we live. We are nulled away by entertainment, and the enticements of modern technology, that we are losing our freedoms that our forefathers fought so hard to preserve for us.
The adversary doesn't take a break because we are tired after the day. The adversary doesn't get tired. After all these generations he is still full force at work. He wants us to implode on ourselves, and tear down our own freedoms for the sake of our own agendas. "A House Divided Can not Stand" is still as true today as it was centuries past. So why are we tearing ourselves apart and giving away what is most precious for a thing of naught? Because we truely don't believe that would happened in the past can happen to us.
For some reason we, in general, think that nothing bad can happen to us that someone else can't fix for us. Our constitution, which is still inspired today, is basically anulled and shredded into pieces for the sake of everyone's personal agenda. We can't unite like this. We can't fight back like this. I hope for all our sakes that we overcome the feeling that we can't do anything to get what we've lost back.
Take a look at what is happening to the checks and balances in the USA. There is none. Not anymore. The leaders of this country are driving us into a third world country. And yet, we still believe the allusion that our leaders know what they are doing, and they are concerned for the welfare of the future. They are... Their future. Not ours.
I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep my family strong, under God. I'm going to try my best to keep my community strong, under God. I don't care what specific Christian religion. If we don't stop the chaos in our personal lives and family, how are we to stop the chaos in the Governments that dictates us? I pray that we will turn ourselves around for the better, so we can have the same thing happen with our surroundings.
I pray that we forget our personal differences. Our differences don't make us strong. What we have in common does. I hope that we can put away our offences, our stubborness, our love for money and social standing, our degrading habbits and lifestyles, and rise to something better. If we don't, individually and by ourselves, we can't expect other people to get better. We have to believe in God, we have to hold strong to His commandments. We have to overcome ourselves. Otherwise.. we will fall. We will repeat history. We will see it in our generation.

Peaches

I've had a hard time getting Gideon to keep down any solid foods. He's finally getting teeth in, so I decided to see how he would do with peaches. The only other thing I've found to feed him is saltine crackers, cream of wheat, and mashed potatos.
I was so excited when he slurped them all up, and didn't have any reverse effects. Little milestones are wonderful! :)

Alone

I had to teach relief society yesterday. The lesson was on Elder Hollands conference talk, None were with Him. This was very difficult for me to teach. At some point, in everybody's lives, they are alone at one time or another. This is especially true for some of the sisters in my ward.
I don't know why this was more difficult for me. I've never felt truely alone. I had the blessing of growing up in the church, and I've always known that I am never alone as long as I am doing the best I can to follow the teachings of Christ, and go where He wants me to go.
It's hard to teach something that hasn't been experienced. If there's one thing this talk taught me, it's that I don't have to experience it. Christ, however, did. That's why I don't.
Teaching about the Savior is hard, because His life and Teachings are simple and complex at the same time. I'm kindof relieved that the lesson is over. I'm glad I had help getting through it.
When we got home, I was still worried if how I presented it was alright. I still hope it was. But, I guess today is a new day, and I have to move forward. If there is one thing better than teaching the gospel, it is living it. :)

The Day at the Lake

We went to the lake today. It was so pretty, and the fish were jumping everywhere. They jumped so high that we could see the silver from their bellies flash in the sunlight for just a split second.
There were 11 of us total, squished into one van on the way there. 9 kids and two moms ready to get out of their houses. The kids were full of energy and ready to run and play.
Jewel had the greatest time picking up pine cones and throwing them into the water. The older kids found a wauded up piece of fishing line and cut it into parts so they could tie it onto sticks for fishing poles. I snapped some of the cutest pictures of them playing.
Ducks swam hurridly away as the kids came running towards them, yelling, " Look mom! Ducks! Can we feed them? Look!"
The branches from the trees crurled up toward heaven, and little spots of sun beamed through them and hit the ground in patches of yellow. It smelled like sunscreen, dirt, and hot grass.
The playground was the center of attension for some of them. Jewel found that she didn't need my help to go down the slide. For me, it was a relief. She kept herself entertained for quite a while. I'm glad I went. It was definanlty a good day.

The Lord Provides

Yesterday Caleb and the guys at the mill found out that they were out of bags to put pellets in. His boss called the company that makes bags and found out that they couldn't get any to him for another ten days. This means that the mill is going to be shut down for next week, and there will be a pretty hefty dent in Caleb's paycheck.
Before we found this out, however, Caleb got about four calls in one day for carpet and vynl. He was wondering how he was going to fit it all in. Even his weekends are booked with work. I guess it's another chance to remember that the Lord knows what we need before we do. I was worried that he'd be so busy, that the family and I wouldn't get to see him at all for the next couple of weeks. Now, he'll have the chance to be home with us as well as work. Life is good :)

Love

I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning, where Mormon is writing a letter to his son Moroni about the affairs of the Nephites before thier nation gets destroyed. A phrase caught my attention. It said, "and they have lost their love one towards another."
I guess this just hit me. What is a nation without love, or any good affection towards eachother? That's what the adversary wants, isn't it? To mute out all good feelings, and replace them with feelings that would make us destroy one another. How close are we to that today? What is replacing our affection towards one another? Selfishness, our inability to admit fault and apologize. We are easily offended, are quick to argue, and love to pick out everybodys faults but our own. If we do obsesivley pick out our own faults, that could be considered selfish as well: what is the reason we do that anyway?
Which, brought me to another thought. The Nephite nation was destroyed, because of "anger and revenge." In other words: they justified their own wickedness. They didn't say, "I forgive you even though you hurt me badly." They didn't say,"This has to stop, or we'll all be destroyed." Common sence was muted, because of justification.
They commited the grosses of sins as "a token of thier bravery." Bravery... how easily can something good be twisted into something so evil. Sin is not brave; sin is not a means for being an intellectual, sin will not always be glamerous. And yet, somehow in our minds, we're tricked into believing it is. I hope we don't excuse ourselves away into everlasting misery.
When that nation was destroyed, how many of them said, "I'm to busy to change? I'm to far gone to turn back? Other things are more important right now?" or maybe even, " I don't want to change. This is my life, and I'm in control of it."
I wish the people of our day could understand, even a little, how thin a thread we are treading on. I just wanted to throw that out there.