Of One Good Mother

After yesterday's rant, I wanted to change gears a little and share a story I found to be deeply inspiring about the influence of a woman.

One of the most remarkable examples of the sphere and influence a mother has is the life of Sarah Edwards, the wife of Jonathan Edwards, a minister and early colonist. Sarah raised eleven children while her husband busied himself with writing and ecclesiastical duties, becoming the famous one of the family. She stayed in the background as a homemaker--valuing each child's individuality and intelligence, educating both sons and daughters, but also teaching them to work responsibly. A genealogical study later tracked down 1400 of the descendants and compared them to another family who were notorious for criminality and welfare dependency. The Jukes family cost the State of New York a total of $1,250,000 in welfare and custodial charges, while the Edwards descendants boasted the following: 13 college presidents, 65 professors, 100 lawyers and a dean of an outstanding law school, 80 holders of public office, 3 U.S. Senators, mayors of three large cities, governors of three states, a Vice President of the U.S. and a controller of the U.S. Treasury, not to mention the countless numbers who were successful in business and the arts. Only two of these 1,400 were 'black sheep,' which eloquently testifies to the power of one great women." (Elisabeth D. Dodds, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The "Uncommon Union" of Sarah and Jonathan Edwards)

Talk about validation of a mother! Here's my hats off to all good women out there, who are somehow able to see beyond the endless piles of laundry, who clean mess after mess, cook, manage finances, change diapers, read to and love their children, teach them, and are able to find deep meaning and joy in their role as a mother, despite motherhood often being looked down upon in society. Your contribution is immense, more then you may ever realize in your lifetime. Make no mistake, you good mothers change the world, one poopy diaper at a time. (-; Yeah, I know, way to end on an eloquent note--I just couldn't resist!

Grrrrr.....

Why do I feel like I am about to cry? I'll tell you why. Because I am tired of living in an apartment with (a) stupid nosy neighbor who writes us and all the other neighbors up for any infraction of the HOA rules, our most recent letter in this case being the storing of something other then our car in the garage. (Hello, where, exactly are we supposed to store bikes and strollers if not in our garage?) I am tired of being sent letters from the HOA about how I am not allowed to have my beautiful hanging planters up outside on my deck. I am tired of this same stupid neighbor writing us up for leaving our hose screwed in, especially considering we have no immediate next door neighbor, so NO ONE CARES! Except for said neighbor. I keep trying to talk myself into feeling sorry for her, since she obviously must have a miserable life, and all the rest of the neighbors share my feelings for her, but it is getting REALLY hard. I feel like crying because it just makes no economic sense for us to even move to a different rental. I feel like crying because I really want a house--I want someplace to call my own, and to paint, and plant a garden, and put in the kind of flooring I want...but again, with the outrageous price of housing here, and considering we will likely be here for less then three more years, that doesn't make sense, either. I am getting so tired of trying to be patient for everything. I feel guilty for writing this post, because there are so many in the world that have next to nothing, and here I am complaining. Which makes me feel even worse. I should go to bed.

Of Cheese Graters and Choices

"While we are free to use our agency to make our own choices, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions."

Of Sunday Snack Bags

I am constantly trying to come up with fun ideas to make our family just a little better, have a little more fun, and be a little more effective. My latest attempt at family betterment has been to make Sundays just a bit more spiritual and special for the kids.

I bought a bunch of fun little snacks that we don't normally have, and bagged them in "snack kits." We get home from church around noon, so everyone gets a snack kit and heads to their room for an hour, where they are supposed to quietly eat their snacks and read their scriptures. I am not sure how much scripture reading goes on, because I hear a lot of giggling and talking coming from their room, but at least they are contained long enough for the adults to catch a quick snooze. After the hour is up, everyone is allowed out of their rooms, and I have various stations set up around the living room; a Sunday book/magazine reading station, a letter writing station, a journaling station, etc. Eventually I will add a goal setting station, but baby steps, baby steps.

We are still refining this system, but it has great potential, and I like it! One thing we added today, was that Curtis and Arden cooked dinner. While I do love to cook, it was nice to have a little break from it! I spent the time helping the girls paint their nails. It was fun to just chill with them. (-:

Here's to fabulous Sundays, that start the week off right, and are spiritually uplifting for kids and adults alike!

 

 

Forgive S'more

As the young women's president in our ward, I have the privilage of being in with the Laurels (16-17 year olds) most Sundays. I am always so impressed by the wonderful lessons given by the advisors, and the darling handouts they come up with. The one pictured below was actually from a combined lesson taught by our Mia Maids (14-15 year olds) advisor. She was kind enough to give me some of the extra handouts so that I could use them for a family home evening lesson. My kids were delighted!

 

Of Toilet Plungers and Torches

I think I managed to capture about five photos of our Nielsen family reunion. What can I say? It was so darn fun that I just plumb forgot to take photos!

One of the highlights of the week was the day we spent down at the lake. Shawn and Heather rented a motorboat that we all took turns riding around in. It was highly entertaining watching the uncles do water acrobatics on the innertube behind the boat!

Here are some of the cousins playing around.

 

 

 

Also pictured here is part one of our family olympics, hosted by Devin and Laura. Yes, for those of you who are wondering, the "torch" is indeed a waterballoon in a toilet plunger. No worries, it was well sanitized! Points to Laura for her creativity there!


 

 

We are so blessed to have such wonderful extended families.

Of Seven Peaks

Sadly, I have been awful at taking pictures this summer, and I feel bad that I have missed documenting some pretty significant events (reunions and such). I think it is because half the time I didn't know where the heck my camera was (thanks to the kids taking up amatuer photography), and the other half of the time I discovered that either my battery was dead or my memory card was full (also courtesy of the kids. I love having kids, by the way. I can blame everything on them!). I did, however, happen to capture a few darling photos at Seven Peaks in Utah this summer. Thanks to Grandma Hardin, the kids were able to participate in the Peaks Reader program, where after accomplishing a particular reading goal they received free passes to Seven Peaks. Luckily, we just so happened to have a trip planned to Utah this summer so they could use them!

Did I mention I have the most awesome brother ever? All my siblings are pretty great, when it comes right down to it!