Is Being Mormon Becoming Cool?

Is Being Mormon Becoming Cool?

There was a time in my youth and even shortly after being married when being Mormon was not cool to be. As a member you lived your life in a way that you would not stand out to much even though you already stood out. However, today we are lucky to live in a day in the United States where our children can be glad they too are Mormons.

We live in a time of technology where Mormonism is found all over the place on the internet. One can log into YouTube and view pages and pages of Mormon messages, the church has the Strength of Youth Media messages, First Presidency Messages, Youth, Relief Society and General Conference Sessions are available to listen to, watch, down load, read, CES Devotionals, Christmas, Easter, and Seminary programs are all available to watch online as well. This does not even cover the magazines and additional tools the church has made available to those seeking them.

The First Presidency Message for this month is the Choice to Be Grateful. We are commanded to be grateful in all things. I know for our family this past year has been filled with many trials. The hardest trials have persisted since August. As President Eyring states,

it is not easy to be consistently grateful in all things in the trials of life. Sickness, disappointment, and loss of people we love come at times in our lives. Our sorrows can make it hard to see our blessings and to appreciate the blessings God has in store for us in the future (Eyring, 2011).

The Challenge for us is to remember and count our blessing while we have them. When one loses a major (or minor) blessing in life, suddenly the realization of the lack of gratitude becomes apparent.

There is so much in this world to be grateful about and one of the greatest things is the fact that being Mormon is becoming cool today. I came across another blog post where P.Diddy has quoted Tom Perry by posing “One of the greatest weaknesses in most of us is our lack of faith in ourselves.”

I was then directed to Howard Chua-Eoan’s story posted in the Time Specials called Top 10 Religion Stories 1. Religion of the Year: Mormonism. This is one of the last things I expected to see especially in Time Magazine. While a short paragraph on the church, this short story talks about Mormonism, yes, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is becoming an “innately American religion [and] has become even more a part of the mainstream American fabric.” Also discussed is how our church “has always been the religion of the future — demographically, organizationally, fervently. Well, the future is now, (Chua-Eoan, 2011).

Then we turn to the Gallup Polls.

These results are based on a Dec. 15-18 USA Today/Gallup poll. In 1946, Gallup first asked Americans to name, without prompting, the person they most admire living in any part of the world. Since 1948, Gallup has asked Americans to name separately the Most Admired Man and Most Admired Woman, and has done so each year except in 1967 (when only Most Admired Man was asked) and 1976 (Gallup, 2011).

So what makes this significant? If you look at the list notice who is number 10 in the list….Yes our prophet, President Thomas S Monson. Again something I never thought I would see in my lifetime. My kids really do live in a blessed time where it is cool to have a living prophet on the earth. Not only is it cool for the kids to have a living prophet, but one that is considered to be one of the most admired men in the world.

For our family a simple or minor blessing has been the simple act of eating. For years we have struggled with our youngest and her inability to consistently eat or drink. While frustrating, this has never been a major concern for us. She has been blessed with a permanently placed feeding tube.

However, in August my body decided to go rouge when it came to absorbing, digesting, and accepting food and nutrients. At first we figured this in a time would pass. Here we are now almost into January, and my body is still rogue with its food tolerance choices. The doctors are becoming as frustrated as I am. The kids have gone through several phases by this point. At first they just ignored the fact that mom was not eating, next they decided to try and force me to eat, now they have come to the acceptance that I just can’t on most days even if they do not like it.

The youngest on the other hand has her own method for handling what she sees as a situation gone bad. She keeps insisting that I drink milk as that has always been the rule for her. If she does not eat she has to drink her special milk. So therefore, mom too must drink her milk if not eating and will try and force me to drink milk.

Throughout this time period I too have experienced a range of emotions. At first I was not worried as I knew this would simply pass and I would be fine shortly. However, as time passed and the ability to eat did not return, I realized I did indeed miss the simple blessing of simply feeling hungry and being able to eat when one desired to. During Halloween not eating did not bother me as I had just returned from a week-long stay in the hospital and was still very sick. By Thanksgiving I was annoyed I was not allowed to cook, yet relieved as I was still feeling very week. Then came Christmas and there was some anger and great disappointment due to not really being able to eat.

The blessing in each of these holidays is the fact that I was home with my family. The frustration is that every time I have eaten I got sick afterwards. For Christmas I was blessed with the strength to cook the Christmas dinner everyone else enjoyed and I even enjoyed a few bites here and there.

Although what have we learned through this experience to date? One dropping clothing sizes is really nice in many ways. Eating really is a social event. Holidays are based not only around friends and family, but also around the joys of cooking and eating of food with each other. When one is unable to eat, one needs to strive to find other blessings present. Games and conversation are a brilliant distractor.

Chua-Eoan, H. (2011). Time Specials called Top 10 Religion Stories 1. Religion of the Year: Mormonism. Retrieved December 30, 2011 from http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101344_2101371_2101382,00.html

Eyring, H.B. (2011). The Choice to Be Grateful, Retrieved December 30, 2011 from http://lds.org/liahona/2011/12/the-choice-to-be-grateful?lang=eng

Gallup. (2011). Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Again Top Most Admired List, Retrieved December 30, 2011 from http://www.gallup.com/poll/151790/Barack-Obama-Hillary-Clinton-Again-Top-Admired-List.aspx

http://beinglds.blogspot.com/2011/12/when-being-mormon-wasnt-cool.html

Kids making Tiny Toys for Dad for his Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

The kids have had a BLAST today making tiny toys out of felt for daddy!!! They have had fun learning how to sew and be creative at the same time. Here are they tiny felt toys they have been sewing by hand for their daddy today...

Chantelle making a doggy for daddy

 I love her choice of green beads for the eyes and an orange bead for the nose...

 Jade's sailor pup

 Corbyn's ram

 Jairon's alien

Zach making a polar bear for daddy

Chantelle had so much fun with her puppy for daddy that she had to make a polar bear as well. Here is her polar bear she made.

Playing with new "Tiny Toy" patterns

I have a couple new pattern books for toys. These two toys are for felt toys. The bear is about 4" tall and the Babushka doll is is about 3" tall. Both took only a couple hours each and are completely hand sewn and made from felt and both have beads for accent. The joints are the bear are attached with buttons and are movable.

When Chantelle first saw and got the frog her first question was, "where's the lilly pad?" LOL now she is waiting for me to make a lilly pad to finish off the frog as frogs  "must have a lilly pad to be home and happy." The silly little princess...

Christmas Morning Gifts

This morning started today bright and early with the kids opening their stockings. They LOVED the breakfast setup. The stocking s this year were to heavy to leave hanging so they found them laying on the table in their normal seating areas.

The table was set with dishes completely ready for dinner also ready for breakfast. The main difference this year was due to the stockings being left on the table we placed their cups in the bowls and the silverware in the cups due to the limited space. The kids loved the Christmas Tablecloth cover.

The fruit tray was left on the counter top this year instead on the table. They loved the cantaloupe, honeydew, oranges, apples, bananas, watermelon, pomegranates, pretzels, single serve dippable  Nutella treats, (teddy grams for Ellie) single serve cereal boxes, single serve milk boxes, Capri Sun Juice packets, raisins, all over the table for breakfast and snacking through lunch for the kids. We also have crustless mini muffin pumpkin pie bites for the kids to munch on as well.

This setup has become a Christmas tradition for our family allowing for a later Christmas dinner without the kids feeling like they are starving to death.

The kids were SO excited opening their gifts this morning. The gifts they most loved were the books of course. Once the kids saw The Inheritance Cycle by Paolini, ALL four of the older kids started jumping up and down and screaming. They were also very excited about the Hunger Games Trilogy by Susanne Collins, The Circle Cycle Ted Decker. Additionally, Jade got The American Girl Series for Kaya to include a built in board game, and the first three books in the Warriors Series, and the 4th book in the book in the Uglies series. Now we have a list of other books the kids are asking for. The are asking for more Warriors and Uglies books.

The funniest part about the books is the kids were smelling the books and then Celidah declared that someone needs to create a new book perfume, because new books are the best smelling things ever. At this Jade, Corbyn, and Jairon all agreed that new books are the best smelling and best feeling things ever in this world.

It did not take long at all for The Inheritance Cycle to be opened up and the 4th book removed from the collectors case. These books are hardback and I got the kids the collectors edition because I know not only will they read them, but take care of them. Celidah had looked away for quick minute to see what her brother was doing and her father had snagged the book and ran into the kitchen with her newly prized book.

Within seconds she realized the book was missing. With a wild giggle she ran in pursuit of her father to retrieve the book she wanted to start reading. Soon they were giggling and laughing as they were tackling each other in the hall over the book. Suddenly the chase started up the stairs and into the rooms. Within minutes Celidah had retrieved her book and loudly and proudly proclaimed "HAH!!! The book is now MINE!!" as she then bounced down the stairs with a huge grin and a giggling father bouncing behind her...

She won this battle for now and is happily reading her newest book in our massive collection book collection. I am so happy to have a house full of book worms that love reading. I do not mind the fact that I had to clear shelves and place books I knew the kids had not been reading in a short while to make room for more incoming books for Christmas to fill those empty spaces after today. I do love that each of my children have gotten the same love of reading their Nanna and Daddy have.

Just a quick run down of the kids other most favorite gifts from today...

Jade was so funny as Celidah was opening her gift from her field trip to Washington DC. She was just as excited as Chantelle was last night. The silly child was bouncing out of her skin and so very excited. The best part was watching the two girls with both reations. Celidah's excitement building based off Jade's expanding excitement as Celidah got closer to the carefully and skillfully wrapped gift inside. Finally, once inside, Celidah discovered all the excitement was over a simple shiny rock with light tiger like striping. How I love the excitement of children bubbling over their siblings reactions to what is hiding inside...

Jade is so excited with her drawing and art supplies and candy making supplies, Celidah is most excited about her Wii games for Okami and Legend of Zelda, Corbyn is most excited about getting the Skylander Spyro Dragon game and his lego toys. Jairon is most excited about his Nerf toys. Zachariah is most excited about his Smokey the Fire Truck Starwars toys. Chantelle is super excited about her animals.

Now that the kids have opened their gifts and are happily playing and snacking again our Christmas dinner is cooking and will be ready here in a few hours. The nice thing is with most of the prep work done in advance, very little actual work has to be done today. Left to do is having the girls make the fresh bread for today, I will finish the stuffing, toss the roasted veggies in the oven, the slow roasted leg of lamb is already cooking, the gravy will be one of the last things to make once the lamb is finished.

Here in a few hours we will be sitting down at the table enjoying our family dinner talking about our favorite memories over the past year.

Christmas Eve Traditions Unchanged

Christmas Eve traditions in the house held strong even though the kids were given the option to allow for change this year.

Yesterday was a busy day as I prepped the Christmas Day meal so little cooking prep would be needed as today is also Sunday. This prep drove the kids crazy as the smells floating throughout the house made them very hungry for the roast lamb yesterday. Yesterday I made the pumpkin and apple pies, cut half the bread into small squares, seasoned the squared and slowly browned and dried the bread crumbs and cubed squares in the oven for stuffing today. The homemade stuffing is to allow for me to eat even a small portion of stuffing.

The leg of lamb has been sitting in the fridge marinating over night again with a gluten flour mix of spices over night ready to be slowly roasted today. The potatoes and vegetable mix again also pre-cut, mixed together, tossed with oil and spices, covered with foil and sitting in the fridge and waiting to be tossed in the oven once we get home from church today.

Then last night we watched Christmas Story a Finish based story of St Nickolas, an orphaned child who becomes the towns child, then eventually finds a permanent home and how these change each others lives and in the process St Nicholas decides to leave surprise gifts to those who have helped him at on point in this life.

After the movie the kids acted out the story of Christ's birth and the circumstances leading up to his birth as they read from Luke Chapter 2 them Mark Chapter 2. This was my highlight of the evening.

Then after this and talking about this the kids knowing we have been blessed with a secret Santa as a family we gave them the option of opening their Secret Santa gifts to each other or rest of the gifts sitting on the floor. They all shouted "our secret Santa gifts!" They just had to know the reaction of their brother or sister over what was in the gifts on the floor.

The funniest was when Frank got to Ellie's gifts to him. By this point she just could not hold back her excitement any longer. To see how she would react he tossed one of his gifts to Corbyn to open. Right away she snagged that gift and ran it Daddy telling Corbyn "that is NOT yours, that is Daddy look at the tag!" and gave it to her Daddy, "get it right and read the tags!" The next time he did that she was more than excited to help open the gift, "Look Daddy, see it is a lion, it is so cool and will be fun to paint!" LOL this was before it was even unwrapped. By his third gift he did not even pass it on as her reaction was so extreme as she was about to explode. She was laughing, giggling, jumping, screaming, shouting, "Look Daddy...it says I got your back, I got your back, I got your back!" By this point Celidah said "there she finally exploded. I was wondering how long she could hold that inside."

Getting the kids to bed last night was a challenge as they knew more was to come in the morning. They have come used to the Christmas breakfast table and the stockings. This is their favorite part of Christmas morning. The stockings have a few small gifts, snacks, and breakfast items. The table it filled with fruits then set for easy eating allowing for no cooking for breakfast.

With the house set up and the kids sleeping we are off to bed and ready for Christmas to begin.

Motivation to learn to Read…

Well Zach has found a real reason to learn to read. LOL not just read, but really read and become a good reader at that. He has decided that his younger sister just can’t be reading better and faster than he can. Talk about the inhumanity of her being able to sound out words faster than he can. So not fair that he is trying to sound out a word and she comes up behind him, looks at the word, thinks, and then blurts it out before he has a chance.

Oh goodness, want to hear two children argue? Have Chantelle come into the middle of Zachariah’s reading time and blurt out his words before he can.

“Ellie!! That was MY WORD!! Let me find my words for myself!” He shouts to her.

All dignified she simply states to him, “well you were not finding your word fast enough.”

“But, it is my homework and MY reading. I have to find and read my words.”

“Well then find them and read them faster.” She retorts back, stomping away because he has just slammed the book shut in her face.

A few minutes later I have either Zach or Ellie snuggled up to me reading a book alone away from their brother or sister, happily reading to me. Throughout the process I gently remind both kids to stop, slow down, sound out words, and think about what they are reading. Once the book is finished we talk about what they just read. Within just a few minutes the other child has joined me and the process begins again without arguing and me alone with one child.

However, I do not see reading being much of a struggle for Zach to much longer this school year as he has a real desire to catch up with his brothers and sisters and begin to read the “real books” as he calls them. He wants to read the Harry Potter, Warriors, and other books we have on the shelves or are getting from the library. 

ATEC Christmas Party

Today was the Christmas party for Frank’s new unit here in MD, and what an experience it was. First off due to an appointment that ran late I had time to change my shirt to a more Christmas-y color, and then due to the weight I have lost I no longer have any slacks that fit anymore.

Several things I learned today, do NOT wear jeans around here. The skirts I wear to church are to causal, I do have to break down and get slacks again, I will want to get or make myself a black dress for the more formal events. Depending on the dress it can be less formal, or more depending on the accessories with the dress.

The other thing I discovered is we are low ranking here. Talk about weird, going from a higher ranking NCO level to suddenly being one of the lower ranking soldier levels. I never thought I would be in a room with a General, let alone two Generals. They were mingling with everyone. I have never seen so many high ranking offers in one room and all were very friendly as well.

I had the opportunity to meet many of the people Frank is working with or will be working with. This duty assignment has the potential to provide him with some really good opportunities. 

Pulled out the microscopes we were given...

Ok so I LOVE science and have helped my kids to love science too. These microscopes used to belong to Frank's aunt a genetic scientist with UC Davis. I am SO excited to have these as part of my science collection now and can't wait till we have a chance to actually use them.

Playing with my new camera

Here are some cute pictures taken while Frank and I were playing with the new camera

Choir and band concerts

So far the younger kids have had their choir and band concerts. The first one was with the elementary school. Corbyn was the only one performing this time. He participated in the choir and seemed to have a lot of fun doing so. The kids did a great job singing. The 4^th graders for band and orchestra were definitely beginners but moving along. The 5^th graders had moved on to some challenging music for them.

The following week we attended the band concerts with the middle school where Jade participates and plays the flute. She is progressing nicely and getting more confident with her flute playing. In the 6^th grade band there were 75 students, in the concert band (7^th and 8^th graders) they had 110 students playing. The middle school really pushes and challenges the kids with the music they are learning to play.

Our next concert coming up will be Celidah’s orchestra concert. We are looking forward to seeing the differences between the elementary, middle, and high schools music programs here.

In our house music practice gets quite interesting at times with all the kids learning to play something. Zach and Ellie are working on the piano until they get a bit bigger and Ellie is also working with the xylophone. Jairon will  start with the clarinet as soon as we get a pad for the one missing pad, until then he is working with the piano for now. Corbyn has been learning to play his dad’s bassoon. Then we have Jade with the flute, and Celidah’s main focus this year is her violin.

However, our newest instrument collection piece is the cello we now have. Frank has been practicing on his bassoon as well as learning to play the cello and Jade is so excited we have a cello in the house. This has been her favorite instrument since she was in the 2^nd grade. Well she is working on teaching herself how to play the cello using YouTube videos. This child really wants to learn the cello as well.

The kids are getting better with focusing on their instrument sound when all kids are working on something. However, with each child at a different level we get some rather interesting sounds right now in the house. Yet, this is fun to watch the kids learning to play and so excited about progressing.

My follow GI apt..

Well today I saw the GI for my issues and the dr had several concerns. The biggest ones are the continued abdominal pain I am having, the nausea issues even with the 8mgs of Zofran, low food intake tolerance, and the unexplained weight loss. While in some ways I am so glad to be losing weight, this really is not the best way to go about.

The biggest concern though was the severity of the ketosis acidosis and the fact that the cause was never determined. Apparently my ketosis issues were more severe than I was originally led to believe. Yes, I knew when I was placed in the hospital in AZ in Oct it was bad and I was not doing well. However, what I did not know is just how close I really was to complete organ failure. According to the dr today had I not been admitted when I was I would have gone into organ failure for sure…

In order to help figure out what is going on I have an abdominal and pelvic ct-scan on Thursday. Then early in Jan I will be having both the endoscopy and colonoscopy redone. When they were done in AZ there were no biopsies done, just a look. I am also being tested for Celiac disease and other things. I forget the whole list. Once these tests are done if the dr is not liking the results or answers then I will have to have motility testing done. (Oh joy…) She also listed off anther list of tests that can be done to help discover the cause of my issues.

However, ultimately the main thing that may have to be done is I may have to go back on gluten for at least a month to help determine what exactly is going on. This is what I am most dreading at this point as gluten puts me in so much pain. Honestly eating solids period are not something I look forward to.

For now though I am to limit the solid food intake and focus mostly on clear liquids. However due to the ketosis issue I am to keep drinking protein shakes at least once a day, (prefer at least 16 ounces) to make sure my body is getting sufficient protein to try and prevent this from happening again. I am also to stop taking the naproxen for now and limit other pain meds. This is going to be frustrating for me as I take the naproxen to reduce joint inflammation.

Thursday I see the endocrine specialist and hopefully will have a better idea of what blood sugar levels are the “safest” for me.  Hopefully this dr too will give me ideas on how to prevent a future ketosis attack. This is essential as due to the severity of my attack in Oct, I have been told the next time will not be a nice short week stay in the hospital, but will come with major complications and consequences. 

Tried painting a humming bird

The first time I have tried to draw or paint a humming bird. Painted in acrylic paints