Charity in Action

Sometimes life is hard! And a helping hand means so much!

I caught Tyler with my camera but there have been so many others who have served me and my family through the years. I am very thankful to all.

" And behold I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matthew 25:40

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Matthew 22: 37-39

I Can't Believe Enoch is Three!

On May 11, my little guy turned 3! Where does time go? It doesn't seem that long ago that he turned 2, or was born for that matter. What a joy he has been to our family! We still can't get over how cute he is.

Enoch admires his big brother Josh. He enjoys chillin with his big sisters, Ashley and Cami, and he loves to play house with Noelle, Rachel, and Rebekah. It breaks his heart when they go outside to play with their friends and he has to stay inside.

Enoch is gentle and loving to his little sister Faith. When she cries, he says, "Don't cry, I'm here, I'm here." He constantly smothers her with love and says “Oh, she is so cute, she is so cute.”

Enoch is affectionate. It fills my heart with joy when he comes up and says, "Mom, I love you." He is a singer. He bursts into songs like "I Am A Child of God" "Three Little Speckled Frogs" and "The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock" throughout the day. He loves books and is always looking for someone to read to him. He knows the alphabet and loves his letters.

Enoch is a very important part of our family! I am thankful to Heavenly Father for him.

Dry Bones! Not Me!

I linked to an uplifting post today of Nurture Mama entitled:

Be a Joyful Mama

"All of you are children of the Most High." Psalm 82:6

"Be a joyful mother of children." Psalm 113:9

"Children are an heritage of the Lord" and "Happy is the [woman] who hath [her] quiver full of them." Psalm 127: 3, 5

It is not always easy to be a joyful mother of children but the world is a happier place when we are!

I am recommitting to be "a joyful mama!"

Besides what is the other option? An all time favorite funny verse tells me:

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Proverbs 17:22

Who wants dry bones?!

The Ultimate Career

I found this quote on a blog entitled My Lady which I stumbled upon. It has caused me to wake up from a worldly stupor:

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only-- and that is to support this ultimate career."

-C.S. Lewis

I have been struggling. Satan has tried to make me feel I am missing out because I have chosen to be a homemaker for these many years instead of pursuing a career outside of the home. This quote has reminded me that I have no reason to feel bad about my choices. I have the ultimate career!
What a blessing it is to have the title of Mom and Homemaker! Now it's time for me to stop taking this marvelous opportunity for granted and to rise to the great responsibility!

A Post Dedicated to Grandma Moore, Mom, and Ashley

"I sometimes wish every girl had access to a sewing machine and training in how to use it. She could then make her own attractive clothing." (President Gordon B. Hinckley)


Ashley went to Prom on April 25 with Bronson Whitmore. She had a great time! It was fun to watch from the side lines as a mom. However, my most favorite part of it all was being able to help Ashley sew her dress.

She decided several months ago that she wanted to make her own prom dress as one of her Young Women Value Projects. I was secretly worried because I hadn't done much sewing since my wonderful grandmother, and dear mom gave up on teaching me many years ago. But Ashley was determined. She bought a pattern while on a shopping excursion with Vaughn and then persistently reminded me that prom was getting closer.

Unable to procrastinate any longer, but afraid to actually begin I helped her make a trial run out of an old orange flowered sheet. Once I could see that we actually could make a dress that fit, I mustered up the courage to begin on the real thing: purple taffeta.

Ashley did most of the pinning, cutting, and sewing. I read the pattern and showed her what to do and how to do it. I am happy to say all of my grandma's and mom's efforts to teach me to sew weren't in vain! It felt great to be able to pass this skill I learned from them on to my daughter.

Now, I think we may have caught the sewing bug! The sewing machine hasn't been packed away yet like it usually is. Ashley and I each have a few projects in mind, Cami has been sewing together all of the jean squares she cut out last summer, and Noelle has been begging to create something, too.

Family Home Evenings

Family Home Evenings have been very good at our house lately. Not because Vaughn and I have done anything spectacular, but because our kids have.

Josh taught a couple of great lessons, on service and gratitude, complete with scriptures to look up and read, and his testimony. Ashley prepared and presented a touching Easter message.
And Noelle spent the Sunday afternoon before her lesson on the Word of Wisdom, preparing visual aides while everyone else in our household over 8 napped.

Living the Word of Wisdom helps you to be healthy and happy.


Breaking the Word of Wisdom will make us unhealthy and unhappy.

(See Doctrine and Covenants 89)

A Wise Principle For Dealing With Difficult People

A friend of mine on Facebook posted a link today that I found to be quite useful:
How to Stop Difficult People from Zapping Your Energy and Happiness . Fortunately, I do not have to deal with too many difficult people in my life but for those times when I do run across a porcupine I will now be prepared! Well, at least in theory! (There is the minor detail of actually applying this new info.)

I recommend you read the original post but in a nutshell, this is what I learned from Brian Vaszily:

What zaps our energy and happiness more powerfully and rapidly than anything else is our reaction to difficult people. Difficult people are not responsible for zapping our energy and happiness. We are in control of ourselves. We have a choice in how we respond.

He recommends that we make a list of the difficult people in our lives and then think, of all things: What about this person is worth emulating?!

Vaszily goes on to say: "It is our reactionary egos that are prone to completely trash those who seem to have a negative influence in some way on us. Our egos are primitive; if somebody strokes them, that somebody is good, and if somebody kicks them, that somebody is bad.

This lingering reaction creates the notion of “dislike,” or hate, which blocks our eyes, mind and heart from focusing on anything but the negative. But by focusing on the negative in anyone – “I really don’t like that person” -- we are doing by far the most damage to ourselves.

Honing in on what we don’t like in people (or in situations for that matter) won’t change them, but it does make our lives considerably less peaceful and sucks away our energy and happiness. It becomes a habit that perpetuates the self-damage. Plus it makes us considerably less attractive to others."

So there you have it. Now we know what to do, lets just do it!