Life in a Fog

After I wrote the post on obedience, I received a slew of questions. I began writing the answer to one of them, about how to teach your children to be appropriate in social situations, but the first thing I started talking about was a friend of mine and her kids. I started wondering how she teaches them. Her kids are amazing. This past week, I turned to this friend and asked her to write up some ideas of how to teach your children to be appropriately social. I will post her words when I get them. I'm excited to learn from her.

For today, I have to say that I'm completely out to lunch these days. I can't seem to wrap my brain around the idea that this little person....

Has grown into this big person.....

My head is reeling!

She got a second job today. The first, she's had for a number of months now, but it's very part-time. She'll be nannying for a good part of the summer, so she's very happy and excited about this prospect.

#1 has always been a very obedient child. She has sought out my opinion on things and taken those opinions very seriously. From babyhood, she has set me up. From her, I thought that all children were easy. I have since learned that this ain't necessarily so.

Two nights ago, we attended the awards banquet for the high school choir. After all was said and done, she approached me and explained that a young man from the choir wanted to go shopping with her that evening. It was 8:15. She insisted that they would get a group of people together to go. She needed to finish writing a paper still before she could go, but as I told her that stores close at 9, she knew this wasn't going to work.

When we got home, while she was writing her paper, I asked her to please come upstairs and see me when she finished. She did.

I thanked her for being such an obedient daughter. I told her that every mother should be so blessed as to have a child like her. I put my hands on my own shoulders, pretended to pick up a burden there and placed my hands and the burden on her shoulders. I told her that her decisions were now hers completely and that I would be there for her no matter what her choices in life might be. I told her I was so proud of her and who she's become and that I have full confidence that she will make the best possible decisions for her life.

2 peas in a pod--#1 and my mom

Wow! People told me childhood passes quickly, but I have to say I didn't understand. I'm still not sure if I do.

I will miss my sweet little companion that saw me through the Warden's adventures in his last two years of college. The young girl who met me with open arms each time I'd walk in to volunteer in her classroom. The girl that allowed me to walk her into her first day of middle school. The young woman who accompanied me to Japan and worked tirelessly by my side.

I love her adaptable, funny personality. She's the rock who never cries. I'm grateful for 18 years spent in her presence. What a blessing to have gotten to be home with her and be at the crossroads in her life!

She has made mothering more than easy. She's made it a joy.

Perspective

"Because we are being constantly exposed to the world's definition of greatness, it is understandable that we might make comparisons between what we are and what others are-or seem to be-and also between what we have and what others have. Although it is true that making comparisons can be beneficial and may motivate us to accomplish much good and to improve our lives, we often allow unfair and improper comparisons to destroy our happiness when they cause us to feel unfulfilled or inadequate or unsuccessful. Sometimes, because of these feelings, we are led into error and dwell on our failures while ignoring aspects of our lives that may contain elements of true greatness.

"In 1905, President Joseph F. Smith made this most profound statement about true greatness:

" 'Those things which we call extraordinary, remarkable, or unusual may make history, but they do not make real life.

" 'After all, to do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful statesman.' (Juvenile Instructor, 15 Dec. 1905, p. 752.)"

--Howard W. Hunter

In the Blink of an Eye

It's not Wordless Wednesday. I just find myself speechless.....

Ever Wondered About Mormon Polygamy?

I just read this.

Polygamy worldwide (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I, too, have a polygamous background, and I bet if you checked your genealogy, you might just have one too. As you can see from the map, there are many cultures that still practice polygamy.  Mormons, however, do not. I thought it was rather interesting that both of our presidential candidates have polygamy in their backgrounds--one much more recent than the other. FASCINATING!

I have often thought that my great, great grandmother must have been a very ornery woman. Could that be where I get it? I come by it honestly? Last time I posted a photo of an ancestor on Facebook, a number of friends said there was a resemblance between her and me. WARNING: Don't even think about it!

Lucinda Wilson Riddle was married five times. Very unusual for that day and age, I would think, but according to Deila's post, Utah was a no-fault divorce state. I didn't know that. Lucinda was first married to her sister's husband but was divorced within the year. Her third and fifth marriages were to the same man--my great, great grandfather, Jeremiah Highsaw Earnest (pictured with her above).

We need to remember that those were different times than ours. Women couldn't just go out and make a living to support themselves or their families. The Saints were being persecuted wherever they went, and their final exodus was inevitable. What were they going to do? Leave the women behind? What would that say about these God-fearing people? Of course they had to take everyone with them. It just makes sense that these women and children should have someone to cling to. Once they had arrived at their destination, they needed families to get things started. Polygamy was a necessary evil. Once they were safely settled in the Salt Lake valley, polygamy was no longer a need and was abolished by the Church.

The LDS Church no longer exercises polygamy and hasn't for generations. There are groups in the United States and Canada that profess to be "Mormon" that practice polygamy, but they are not of our religion. They are know as Fundamentalist Mormons--a totally different bird.