Search Results for: blog have you drifted away

You Know Your Spouse Loves You When…

Elizabeth Barrett Browning once started off a sonnet with what has perhaps become a bit of a cliched saying: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Have you ever tried to count the ways you love your spouse? Once upon a blog I wrote about something Wayne did for me that showed me he loved me, and then Jade asked: But what do you do to show him? So I answered that with another blog. While that was sort of counting the ways he loves me and I love him, lately my heart’s been waxing romantic about … Continue reading →

Young Men: “A Matter of a Few Degrees”

In his talk “A Matter of a Few Degrees” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf speaks f the importance of living after the manner of happiness. He begins his talk by sharing the experience of being called to serve in the First Presidency. He then goes on to begin his talk by sharing a story of a flight where someone changed the flight coordinates by two degrees. The flight plan took them 28 miles off course, and they ended up flying into the side of a volcano. He goes on to explain “that the difference between happiness and misery in individuals, in … Continue reading →

Friend or Parent to Your Child?

Can you be a best friend to your child as well as a parent? I not only believe it can be done. I know firsthand it can happen. One or the other seemed to be the idea, when Kori raise this issue in a recent blog. But it can be both. For starters it depends on what you mean by ‘best friend’ To me ‘best friend’ is the person you enjoy spending time, the one you go and talk with, and talk things over with. For me throughout childhood and teenage years and even beyond that was my mother. That … Continue reading →

Have You Drifted Away?

It can be difficult to get back on the right path when you have strayed or drifted away. You may catch yourself and realize that you have slacked off in the areas of personal prayer and scripture study or you may be trying to come back after not attending church for awhile. Change is always difficult, and if you try to do too much at once, you often inadvertently make it too difficult to accomplish. I am reminded of an analogy that several General Authorities have used about staying on the right path. They compare it to flying and that … Continue reading →

The Let’s Talk Blog Top Ten – Reasons to Have Children Early in Life

If you are a young mother and are thinking of conceiving, you’ve probably heard opinions on both sides of the fence. It’s no secret that young women have an easier time conceiving, but should they? Studies are showing that people are finding other reasons to have children at a younger age. The trend is leaning toward younger mothers, coming full circle after the boom of women in the workplace. This may be due to the influence of the internet, and the fact that it is possible to work at home. I am a testament to women who can work from … Continue reading →

Thank Goodness for Cousins

As the mother of an only child I worry about my child’s ability to interact and get along with other children. Especially after my divorce I worried that Hailey would not spend enough time with other children, outside of school, to learn good social skills. It seemed that when I got divorced many of the friends I had while I was married drifted away, and with them, went the friendships my daughter had with their children. The divorce also effectively shut the door on any siblings she might have. This makes me especially grateful for my family. My sisters and … Continue reading →

Happy Father’s Day

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, days full of expectations. Breakfast in bed, well behaved children, getting to watch something you would like to watch on TV, being pampered and catered to. Then we wake up. As cute as our kids are and as much as they try to be angels for our special day, they are kids, and ten minutes after being the most adorable, thoughtful child on the planet, they do something that makes you wonder if you are going to live through parenting them. Single fathers are not a new breed but their numbers are growing and we … Continue reading →

Chicken Envy

Our friends have chickens. My husband knew what was coming next. You see, I’ve been sort of pestering him half jokingly that we needed chickens. I’ve been pestering him for more than a year, actually. Never mind that there are a lot of other household projects to get through. For example, we are about three hours away from finishing the basement and have been for a couple of weeks, the kitchen, living room and three bedrooms need to be painted, and there are tree stumps in the front yard that need to be addressed. The two of us work full … Continue reading →

Michael Jackson the Father

They look like each other, but nothing like the man they called “dad.” Still, that didn’t seem to matter to the offspring of Michael Jackson. Prince Michael Jackson, 12, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael Jackson II a.k.a. “Blanket,” 7, were reportedly near their father when he suffered an apparent cardiac arrest in his home earlier today. He may have been the King of Pop, but some believed that Michael Jackson was far from the King of Pops. Prior to his death, critics slammed Jackson for his lack of parenting skills. The singer’s rarely seen children have spent … Continue reading →

Little Girl on the Edge – Childhood Bipolar Disorder

Motherhood, for me, has been a journey with unexpected turns and frightening pitfalls. Little did I know when Cassidy first appeared on my doorstep the great challenges I would face being her stepmother. On that day, she looked up at me with a cherubic face, pink cheeks, and a welcoming smile. “Hello, my name is Cassidy,” she said brightly. “It’s very nice to meet you.” I didn’t know what childhood bipolar disorder looked like, but if I could have imagined it, this gorgeous little girl would not be its personification. Cassidy moved into my home at the age of six, … Continue reading →