Quality #3 - Courage

Suze Orman, from Women and Money

Courage is the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action.

"Courage gives harmony expression. When your thoughts and feelings are one, courage helps you manifest them in the form of words and actions. When you are afraid to speak or act, courage helps you overcome your fear. Courage gives you the ability to speak your truth, even when it is not what others may want to hear."

OK, so last time I shared with you how I had felt out of balance, wanted to restore harmony, and was worried about confronting Rom with some problem I was having. Here's the follow-up excerpt from my journal.

"OK, this is so Rom and my marriage -- right after I had written that last entry, I discussed it with Rom. I basically asked him if he'd be supportive of me trying to bring my life in harmony even if it meant 'rocking the boat.' He responded, of course, with hyperbole and humor, putting me at ease. I then brought up the two things I could think of that had been bothering me. He agreed I was right; I don't know if that means he'll change immediately, but it opens the door to my speaking my mind when it comes up again. And, I realized, I don't need to do any digging, because that was all there was to it. Ah, I married such a good man!"

I've found that every time I get the courage up to say what I need to or act how I need to, the consequences are never so bad as I built them up to be in my mind. I'm still working on it, but at 43, I should be safe enough with myself to do this!

Puzzle Me This

We have a new summer hobby -- puzzles! Gabe had a puzzle day during the last week of school, and I had a couple of puzzles I let him take. They were sitting out, so we started doing the puzzles. They were 100 pieces, and we finished them pretty easily. Then, I had a 500 piece puzzle that I had bought at the 99 Cent store. We got started on that one. It was very cool -- I laid out the pieces on our living room table. While I was working, Kyara drifted in and sat by me and added a few pieces. Then, Ana and the others drifted in and out from time to time, adding a little bit here and there. Well, the 500 piece puzzle was a beast! All of the pieces were exactly the same shape, so it was really easy to put the wrong piece in the wrong place. The worst was when we got down to nothing but green -- that took two or three days alone! Once we finished the puzzle, we cheered our accomplishment, and Ana said, "You have to put it on the blog!" So, here's our finished puzzle. And, I went out and bought a 10-pack of puzzles (100, 300, and 500) that we're working through. We are saving the zebra puzzle for last -- if we make it through that one, I'll post our triumph!

The Fish Torturer

This is a picture of Kyara's Betta fish, Gregorio. Kyara is doing evil experiments to see how little water the poor thing can live in before it rebels, climbs out of the bowl, and slimes her in her sleep. She has a history of fish abuse. She was ten years old, and she had a pet Betta fish. The kids were going to my mom's house for awhile, and she didn't want to leave him home alone, because he would probably starve. The drive from Oceanside to Escondido was about 40 minutes. I promised I would drive carefully, but we were in a big van with terrible shocks going 55+ mph on the freeway. We would hit bumps, and the poor fish would slosh and slam up against the sides of the bowl. Kyara was terrified it was going to die. Tender hearted and near tears, she cried out, "He thinks it's the roller coaster from hell!"

The story does have a kind of happy ending. The fish survived and lived a happy life ... until Johnette killed it.

The Closer!

Many of you know that Rom and I opened our own mattress store a couple of months ago. Rom is the master salesman, and I'm the behind the scenes operations gal. Well, Rom went with the young men last week on their High Adventure trip down the Colorado River, and I had the scary privilege of watching the store while he was gone. Now, we have a lousy location (we're moving to a better location this week), so it's not like I had a lot of customers. But, apparently, people smelled my fear, and I actually attracted more customers than Rom usually gets in the store. Unfortunately, Rom forgot to relay some important information like how much the frames and headboards cost, so I might have missed those sales. But ... I got my first sale ever! Harold Dixon, retired and volunteering at the Thrift Store two doors down, had come in to see Rom a few times. He decided it was time to pull the trigger. I landed him on the right bed, gave him a $50 discount, and CLOSED the deal! He was a sweetheart and let me take a picture of him. He said we could use it in our advertising. So, we got a picture of Rom's first customers, and now we have a picture of mine! Yeah, I rock!

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Our Family Mission Statement

For the past week, we have been talking about what is great about our family and what we want to improve about it. We have finally condensed the things that are most important to us into our Family Mission Statement. Rom was inspired to ask Kyara to write it up for us -- she is the one who did an amazing job putting it all together. She is such a talented writer! Thank you, Kyara, for capturing what we all wanted to say! It is in the right column of our blog, right below my lifetime goals.

Gabe's Baptismal Interview

OK, I usually don't get on the computer on Sundays -- my day of rest -- but this was too cute, and I wanted to post while I could still remember everything. As you probably know, Gabriel is getting baptized this Saturday. So, he had his interview with the bishop today. Gabe approached it very seriously. He asked me, "Mom, if I get some of the answers wrong, can I still get baptized?" I had assured him everything would be fine, but he was still worried when we got to the bishop's office.

Well, our bishop is a very down to earth man who spent his life working on a farm. He has a great sense of humor, but it is a little different than what we're typically used to. I'm afraid Gabriel didn't know what to make of him half the time. One of the first things the bishop asked was why we get baptized. Gabe answered, "To wash away our sins." The bishop answered, "That's right! Now, I imagine a young guy like you probably doesn't have that many sins." Gabe said, "Well, it's hard to remember all the times." That cracked the bishop up, and he said, "Well, at least you're honest."

They then talked about the covenants that you make at baptism. We promise to take upon us Jesus' name, we promise to always remember him, and we promise to keep his commandments. He promises us that we'll always have his spirit to be with us. So, the bishop was mentioning how important it is to be obedient. I said Gabe has always been a very obedient boy. The bishop was impressed, and told him that he could be a great influence in his family by his example. He said, "I don't want you to feel that just because you're small, you're unimportant." Gabe answered, "Well, I've never felt that way, but OK."

Finally, the bishop was explaining that when Gabe is baptized, he becomes responsible for his choices. He gave the example of Gabe being responsible for getting up Sunday mornings and getting ready for Church on his own, because he wants to go. Gabe said, "That should be easy, because my brother Gavin and I are always the first ones up. My parents sleep in until 10 or so." (k, that's not true, we're always up before 9 on Sundays!) The bishop laughed, and then he suggested that Gabe get a glass with just a little water in it, and that he dribble it in our ears and on our faces to wake us up. Not too much, just enough to be annoying. Gabe's eyes were huge! He kept looking at us like, "Can I get away with that? It's the bishop telling me to do this!" I'm pretty sure he won't actually act on the suggestion, but if it happens, I'll know who to blame!

I'm so excited about our Gabriel getting baptized. He is such a responsible little man, and he is so ready for this. I love that he'll be getting the gift of the Holy Ghost, because he deserves that blessing. I'll post more next week about the actual day.

52 Weeks Blessings

Greg Olsen was asked about the inspiration behind this painting:

"What''s this on your hand?" Such an innocent and concerned inquiry from a little child surely would bring forth a tender answer from the Savior. He might reply, "That''s a reminder of just how much I love you."


I hope I never forget how much He loves me, and I hope I can live my life, everyday, showing how much I love Him.

Relief Society Lesson

These are some of the notes and discussions I had during my Relief Society lesson on Sunday. Whereas this lesson is specifically for people in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, or Mormons), I think this is pretty applicable to all "truth seekers" of all faiths. The lesson was taken from a talk given by Henry B. Eyring at Conference. For the full text of his talk, see http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-851-7,00.html.

Brother Eyring begins by saying, "We have seen and felt evidence that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is both true and living." How is it true? "And ^atruth is ^bknowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;" D&C 93:24. "He that ^akeepeth his commandments receiveth ^btruth and ^clight, until he is glorified in truth and ^dknoweth all things." D&C 93:24. "The ^aglory of God is ^bintelligence, or, in other words, ^clight and truth." D&C 93:36.

Brigham Young has said, "" 'Mormonism,' so-called, embraces every principle pertaining to life and salvation, for time and eternity. I want to say to my friends that we believe in all good. If you can find a truth in heaven, earth, or hell, it belongs to our doctrine. We believe it; it is ours; we claim it."

Brother Eyring states, "We know from prophecy that not only will the true and living church not be taken from the earth again, but it will become better. Our lives will be transformed for the better as we exercise faith unto repentance, always remember the Savior, and try ever harder to keep His commandments.

"The scriptures contain promises that when the Lord comes again to His Church, He will find it spiritually prepared for Him. That should make us both determined and optimistic. We must do better. We can. And we will."

There has always been a distance between gospel ideals and worldly values. The chasm is growing. We see and hear increasing wickedness in the world all around us. But the distance is also growing because of the steady improvement in our lives. We are getting better at fellowshipping others, at being missionaries and sharing the truths in our lives, at strengthening and protecting our families, at reaching out to the poor and those in need. The prophet Joseph Smith has said that as a person becomes truly converted, he or she will want to range across the earth caring for Heavenly Father's children. That is already beginning to happen.

Brother Eyring challenges us to measure the depth of our gratitude for a true and living church. Why is it important to be grateful? Without gratitude, you begin to take the important things in life for granted. When you are grateful for something, you will nurture it, care for it, give it an important place in your life, and keep it safe and living.

A Day At The Beach

We had our first beach day of the summer! Rom has promised us that we'll go every other week on his day off, and he made good on that promise Monday. The weather was beautiful -- it was so nice to get out of the Hemet heatwave. The water was warm, but the surf wasn't very good. But even Gabe and Gavin got in a little boogy boarding -- their first time trying it! Gabe is going to be a good bodysurfer, too. He was really catching some good waves. I love watching my kids at the beach. They play together so well and they really enjoy being together. Can you believe a day at the beach with six kids is actually relaxing for me? I can't wait to go again!

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Valle Vista Ward Primary Pool Days

This is an idea stolen from my mom that has blossomed into a Valle Vista Ward tradition. Every summer, different members of our ward sign up to host a pool party at their home. So, from week to week, we get to pool hop, enjoy our friends, and get out of the Hemet heat! The kids have a blast, and we grown-ups love it, too. It's such a fun, casual way to get together and visit. It's just another reason why I love this ward!

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