More fun than galoshes in the rain.
Tomorrow we make strawberry jam – again. Autumn is my little jam model, with the jam we made last weekend. LOVE this time of year! Happy Jam Day to you all. Happy May day as well. 🙂
Distressed Alpha and Antiquated Swirls stamps by Michelle Coleman. Enjoy stamp by Rhonna Fareer.
I was looking around for quotes and ideas that fit with the habit theme. What I found is an inspiring message from President Thomas S. Monson (First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) entitled “Becoming Our Best Selves”. The title alone is intriguing. How do I become the best me there is?
President Monson points out, “In His earthly ministry, the Master outlined how we should live, how we should teach, how we should serve, and what we should do so that we could become our best selves.” So the answer to my question is to become more like Jesus Christ. President Monson continues, “As we strive to learn His truths and then to live them, our lives and the lives of others will be abundantly blessed.” Sounds oh-so-good to me. I want a blessed live and to be a blessing to others.
He mentioned that several questions will guide our thinking as we try to find our best self. The one that jumped out to me was “Do I have the courage to change for the better?” It does take courage!
The scrapbooker in me loved this section, “It is time to choose an oft-forgotten path, the path we might call ‘the family way,’ so that our children and grandchildren might indeed grow to their full potential. There is an international tide running. It carries the unspoken message, ‘Return to your roots, to your families, to lessons learned, to lives lived, to examples shown, even family values.’ Often it is just a matter of coming home—coming home to attics not recently examined, to diaries seldom read, to photo albums almost forgotten.” How poetic and yummy is that? It motivates me to teach my family – the values and lessons that are important. And then to document them for future generations as well.
Another poetic quote: “It is in the home that we form our attitudes, our deeply held beliefs. It is in the home that hope is fostered or destroyed. Our homes are to be more than sanctuaries; they should also be places where God’s Spirit can dwell, where the storm stops at the door, where love reigns and peace dwells.” I want our children to always want to come home. To feel that love – of their parents and of God – in this home. I want the storm to stop and our home to be that place of peace. I am going to work harder on this one.
I will end with another quote by Thomas S. Monsen: “There are lessons to be taught; there are kind deeds to be done; there are souls to be saved.”
All papers, brushes and elements by Rhonna Farrer, except for music wings by Helen Parkinson. Fonts: Holiday Serif, Kiss Me and MA Sexy
I was blessed with parents that encouraged my creativity. I want my children to also feel safe expressing and using their imagination. That is one of the gifts that I can give them – my encouragement, attention and love. I want my blog to, among many other things, show my whimsical side.
Remembering those who have gone before… and experienced before… I attended a book club tonight. For the first month we read “Night” by Elie Wiesel. I had read it in high school, but it has been years. The version I read was a little bit different as well. This book hit me much more powerfully this time. I’m not sure if it is because I am a mother now, that I have experienced a little bit more of life (12 years or so), or that the version was what touched me. Books like this are hard for me to read, but I also feel that they are important. It is essential to learn about and remember history. I few thoughts I came away with tonight were:
To top off a wonderful evening of discussion – I found out that Mr. Wiesel is coming to give a lecture in a town less than ten miles away. He will be speaking at the end of next month at the college nearby. I have it marked on my calendar.
p.s. I made three delicious loaves of bread with my Bosch today. Easy and tasty! Jim Bob and the kiddos grated some cheese for tonight’s dinner (taco salad) in the Bosch as well. That lady has a lot of get up and go. Hmmm, I feel that she deserves a name. I will have to think on that one. Night all.
Today has been a long, but good day. I was in charge of story hour (with my friend Michelle) at the library today. We had a fun time with the “Spring” theme. We read a plethora of Spring Time books, did some finger plays, sang lots of songs, and glued popcorn all over a paper tree branch – to look like a blossoming spring tree. So fun and slightly educational. 🙂
This afternoon there was a Primary Quarterly Activity. The theme was “Children Around the World”. The children first learned the song “Holding Hands Around the World”, and then there were three rooms they went to to learn about different countries. One room was about Germany, another about Chile and the last was about Taiwan. The children were divided into three groups and then rotated between the rooms. Each room had a person from our ward that had gone on a mission to that country. They talked about the country and then also about the children in the country. Our representative for Taiwan was not able to make it at the last minute, so Sister Ruell picked up the table display and got some information on the country. I looked online and found some stories in the Friend magazine about some children in Taiwan. I told the stories, showed the information and passed out the fortune cookies that Sister Ruell had picked up from the Snow Dragon restaurant. The children really seemed to enjoy it. I was sad that I did not see the other presentations, but I hear that they went well. 🙂 The Activity Day girls (age 12) and their new leader, my sister Erin, made the treat from Germany – yummy chocolately bread. The treat from Chile was cheese empanadas. The children seemed to enjoy all of it, and it went fairly smoothly as well.
In the evening I went to a PBS “Ready to Learn” workshop – so good. There were not many people there, so we were allowed to take two free books. I also received one book as a prize, so my boys were thrilled when I came home with three books. We busted them open and read away. I think their favorite is, “Joseph Had a Little Overcoat”. It is about a man whose coat wears out, so he makes a vest. The vest is wearing out, so he makes a scarf and on down to a button. Cute story and fun pictures. We also got, “The Rain Came Down”, and “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”. All three books are sequential in nature, so I’ll have to point that out to them sometime. 😉
Now I’m fighting to keep my eyelids open. I will post again tomorrow. Oooh, and I am so excited to try out my Bosch machine. Totally grew up with this wonderful kitchen appliance – and received one tonight as an early Mother’s Day present from my Dad and Mom Pipes. So exciting and wonderful!
A habit is an interesting thing to contemplate. Of course there are good and not-so-good ones. There are ones I have been trying to create for a while. Washing all the dishes every day (still looking forward to the day when that is a chore the kiddos can do – 🙂 ), keeping up on the laundry before there are massive piles, and keeping the living room in somewhat of an orderly condition. The living room is one of the most challenging – with three mobile children and one that loves to be held and cuddled. Jacob and Joshua are both getting much better at picking up one toy before moving on to a next, so that’s a blessing. Anyway – there are other habits too, like reading my scriptures daily and reading to my kiddos too.
Today I was thinking that perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to develop little happy habits as well. Having a little me time every day is good. A long time ago I wrote a little list of the things that make me happy – everything from homemade lemon soap to thunderstorms to fresh fruit to building sand castles to well-written songs. I need to dig out that list again and have some happy moments. Here’s to creating all kinds of good healthy habits!
I have found some be-au-tiful quotes. I’m going to list them here and use them for inspiration. Some are about habits and some are ones I stumbled on looking for habit quotes.
“The man who has no imagination has no wings.” – Muhammed Ali
“If you don’t like the news, go and make your own.” – Anonymous
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” – Francis Bacon
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard
“Habits are first cobwebs, then cables.” – Spanish Proverb
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” – Winston Churchill
Since I’m helping with story hour at the library tomorrow – this one jumped out at me:
“Library. Here is where people, one frequently finds, lower their voices and raise their minds.” – Richard Armour
I think that goes for little people too. 🙂
And here’s a quote that sums up what I am trying to do with this 21 Day Challenge:
“Learn as much by writing as by reading.” – Lord Acton
I have no idea who Lord Acton is, but he sounds pretty wise. 😉 Good luck to everyone with their personal quests on this challenge.
I have grand visions of how my blog should look. I want it to be fun and inspiring, at least to me. 🙂 But if I put off posting until it is beautiful, it might not happen anytime soon. The main reason I want to blog is to journal about my family and me. Photos are good – they help tell the story of us. And I love photos! So I begin…
My blog name comes from an event I witnessed years ago. I was a college student on the verge of finals and just knew my life was challenging. I went to visit a basement music store to take my mind off things. As I walked up the stairs coming out of the store, I saw that it had been raining and muddy puddles were everywhere. A young pig-tailed girl in front of me became the victim of one of those puddles. I started walking quickly, so that I could help her up and maybe dry a tear or two. Instead, I saw her hop up, giggle and then begin to splash joyfully. The view of my current life changed. I might have challenges and difficult things to face, but by golly, I could still find joy. Joy in the trials even. My “Pollyanna” moment has been a tremendous blessing for me. I proudly proclaim that I am a “Puddle Jumper”. It doesn’t hurt that I have always had a child-like view and personality. 🙂
One thing that encouraged me to post is the challenge going on at Rhonna’s blog. The challenge is all about making or breaking a habit in 21 days. I have wanted to start a blog for so long. I certainly read enough of them. I need to take the time to tell my story as well. So, even if it is a short entry, I will blog for the next 21 days. It might be a little more sporadic after that. But I will be consistant for the next three weeks – :). Each week there will be a new word for us to ponder and find quotes about, perhaps create an art journal page or scrapbook layout with. The word for this first week is Habit. I found two wonderful quotes so far:
“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” – Mark Twain
That one made me laugh. The next quote makes me want to focus on creating good habits.
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character…” – Steven R. Covey
I will leave with a photo that I hope becomes a habit very, very soon – Backyard Picnics. 🙂 lol.
Brush Stroke on photo by Michelle Coleman. Fonts: SA Cinta and Artistamp Medium
