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OUR OWN PIECE OF HEAVEN
UPDATE: We made a sad move in November 2023 leaving this ‘heaven’ behind, all to create and do it all again, the same thing. However, this time it would be a physical transformation of a house into a home as we stripped it down to it’s bones and have been room by room personalizing and creating a place for our family to continue to grow at. Growing up in Lewiston, Idaho, I became quite familiar with “The Palouse” known for its miles of rolling hills, fields, and old farmhouses. Ever since I could remember, there was one particular home that reached my heart. It was an old, white boxed farmhouse…
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HOW CAN I BEGIN TO TEACH LEADERSHIP?
Recently in studying the teachings of Brigham Young, he spoke how the physical and the spiritual are connected— that Zion will have to be built from the ground up— starting with our homes first where each will have to learn how to work. So began my quest again to help my children to grow. We have spent the last few years learning how to work together on projects, through cold or hot temperatures, and to do real, hard work— such as taking on the painting of the exterior of a house, shoveling truckload after truckload of manure for gardens, or making a family website from scratch. It is not always…
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BUILDING A FAMILY ON RIGHTEOUS TRADITIONS
“Out of my 5 children, which 4 would I want to see walk away from the Church?” As a mother, knowing the stats for 2002 were at an all-time 80% high with young people walking away from the faith, I knew I had to do something fast to keep my family together. I had already lost one, and I was not going to lose more (according to statistics), or even future posterity. Nope, not if I could do something about it. One of the triggering factors to this alarming statistic is that we have segregated or outsourced our children over to fun programs, charismatic mentors, cool coaches, experts with fancy…
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IF THE FAMILY LACKS A COMMON CRISIS— THEN HIRE A WOLF TO HOWL!
President Brigham Young knew the value of hard work in preparing the Saints to build the kingdom of God. He counseled the pioneers when he said: “Instead of searching after what the Lord is going to do for us, let us inquire what we can do for ourselves” (DBY, 293). In my grandparents’ childhood, I believe they understood this teaching—as life was different. Days consisted of hard labor in the fields as families, and evenings looked a lot like what we now formally set aside as Family Home Evening on Monday nights in our LDS culture. Scriptures, singing, violin playing, and discussions—were their normal. They would leave the farm only twice…
