Cacophony of the Mundane

Sometimes in the middle of here to nowhere, one is found in the cacophony of the mundane. A plethora of tasks screaming, the dissonance of "gotta get done," only to find stress and an atmosphere of uncomfortable uneasiness that surrounds all who dare to enter. How many times has the phrase, "Sit down, sit still and be quiet!" been heard? As a parent, there needs to be the re-evaluation of this phrase and do as it is says. Yes, just sit down, sit still, and be quiet for a minute. Take some time to study, ponder, and recharge the batteries so that things can get done and the more important things in life can be taken care of.

The Butterfly Metamorphosis

One of my favorite fall activities as a child was discovering that certain caterpillars transformed into butterflies. The one favorite was the Monarch Butterfly with its brillant reddish-orange, black, and white coloring. Most butterfly caterpillars are not the most attractive things in the world. The Monarch caterpillar is a black, yellow, and white striped little crawler. Once a caterpillar was found, my siblings and I would carefully break the part of the Milkweed plant that had the caterpillar on it, and place into a glass canning jar. There we would wait for the whole process to occur. Finally, the caterpillar would find a safe spot on the plant and form the chrysalis or cocoon to protect the caterpillar during it's process of metamorphosis. During this process, this chrysalis turns different colors and then finally clear, so that we could see the dazzling colors of the butterfly.


Before the New Year begins, there is talk of organizing and dejunking, setting goals, making deadlines, and essentially, creating a "brand new you." Looking back on the year's successes, triumphs, joys, disappointments, and such, we have been given the beautiful blessing of rediscovering ourselves not only on a yearly basis, but on a day-by-day basis as well. It's a way of receiving that "second chance," "extreme makeover," or "clean slate" that is desparately needed. This is when the Butterfly Metamorphosis takes place. It is our opportunity to be that caterpillar and take a journey to becoming that beautiful, dazzling Monarch butterfly every year. It's not an easy process, but soon, we can become more brilliant as our goal to becoming that man or woman that we need to be.

Life is a beautiful thing. We are created after the image of an amazing Father who has made it possible for this "second chance." He has given us the ability to choose and the outcome of each day and year depends upon the choices we make. Sometimes we have no control over the outcome, but we have control, most of the time of making it or breaking it. And here we are, another year gone and another one begun. What stories will be written? Only time will tell, but now is the time to write something beautiful, something amazing, something wonderful. This, my friends, is the best gift of 2011.

Wondergirl

In about two weeks, we will have another birthday, but this time it will be a special birthday because our amazing little Wondergirl will be a year old. She is a bright, blue-eyed, precious, sweet-tempered, and happy girl who has an incredible "melty" smile and kissable, pinchable cheeks, full of life and bringing lots of laughter to our home and because she is so petite, she has several nicknames: P'chunky, P'chunkers, Peanut, and Wondergirl.

I'm no Martha Stewart but the "Best Mom Ever"

Martha Stewart, the goddess of domesticity, may rank on the top ten list of many individuals out there. Fortunately, being a mom doesn't require me to be Martha. It never has, it never will. Besides, I am my own person, with talents unique to no one, but myself. I can do anything through the guidance and direction of a loving Father in Heaven and to this I say, move over, Martha Stewart, because my children say, "Mom, you're the best Mom ever!"

Winter Wonderland

I love the first snowfall of the year because there's a feeling of excitement knowing that skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, snowboarding, and other "snow" activities can take place. There are many times during the season that capture the beauty of the creation in various ways. One of those times is right after a snowstorm when everything in sight is covered in snow, edged by ice crystals. The sparkling prisms of the snowflakes creating a dazzling winter wonderland is simply a marvel and I hope I see more days like these before this year's winter is over.

Raindrops On Roses

It's funny how favorite things can be pretty much anything. Some of my many favorite things include winnebagos, "scuba diving" in the scriptures, a ripe, juicy, sweet and slightly tangy mango, and seeing the Lord's hand in everyday living. However, three of my most favorite things are more than things. They are my pride and joy, my world, my life: MY KIDS.


Each one since birth, has god-given uniqueness, gifts, and talents that we have been able to discover and build upon. I am so grateful our children DON'T come with instruction manuals. They are individual children of a Heavenly Father who has blessed us with the opportunity to raise and teach to become the best they can, to understand their potential, importance, and role in society, but as a son or daughter of a king.

What's in a name?

There are a few things in this world that society, as a whole, can agree upon and one of those things is having a name. Everything has a name. Even objects have a name...fish, dog, cat, that electrical thingy that goes bzzzzz...everything has a name. In this case, I am going to refer to us humans.

What is the signifcance, if any, in your name? Anyway, yesterday morning as I was driving the boys to school, somehow a conversation topic turned to names when I hear, "Hey Mom, let's change my name to Lightning! Lightning would be cool because I could be fast and loud like lightning." Needless to say we had a good little laugh while I'm thinking, "Lightning? You want to change your name to lightning?" That'd be like going from being known as Paul David Hewson to Bono. In the end, the conversation drifted off to something else, and Lightning has been dropped altogether.

Well, I guess we could call him "L" or "Light" or something like that.