my charming children

Your Destiny

2011-05-05T08:39:00.000-06:00

It is not for you to be led by women of the world, it is for you to lead women of the world in everything that is uplifting and that is purifying to the children of men.

Today I will shower my little ones with:
Smiles, a surprise, conversation, time to read a story, put together a puzzle, hugs, a soft voice and tender touch. I will laugh at their funniness and look for the very best in them when I am tired.

When I Grow Up I Want To Be

2011-04-26T19:58:00.001-06:00

A captain of a great big boat.

A cowboy riding on my very fine pony.

A fireman in a bunny disguise.

The possibilities are endless.

Embellishing 101

2011-04-19T13:39:00.000-06:00

It's a miracle the snow has melted in the backyard making it possible to get to my playhouse (called such because that is where I design, paint and dream on). When I opened the door to see if all things had survived the winter the first thing my eyes gazed upon was a perfect scrap of toile waiting to be rescued from the cold. With haste I took it to my workroom in the house, grabbed the pillow which I purchased on sale a couple of months ago knowing full well it needed some embellishment and started on the 20 minute project.
1. Cut a square. Turn under the edges and hem.
2. Rummage through buttons. Sew them to top&bottom edge.
3. With 3 strands of embroidery floss straight stitch to pillow.
Voila! $35 pillow for $6 and a little labor. All in a day's work.

The Friendship Garden

2011-04-16T16:58:00.000-06:00

Friends can be likened to a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Each flower is beautiful and unique just as a friend. Each adding something special to your life. If you sow lots of friendship seeds you will reap the rewards of many friends.

My Special Little Leprecan

2011-03-22T21:50:00.000-06:00

I remember not so long ago taking an adventurous walk through the foothills enjoying the beginning signs of spring. Dressed in green in case we should run into Leprechauns we followed the trail, climbed the rocks in search of a pot of gold. When we reached our resting place we looked out across the horizon through a sky of blue to the sparkling lake below. Sharing the wonders of our beautiful earth, laughing and loving this little Leprechaun of mine I knew I had found my pot of gold.

A Place to Call Your Own

2011-03-04T08:48:00.002-07:00

No matter the age don't we all need a small spot to call our own? I've watched countless children sit on these chairs while their mothers are in their own zone at Piper and Chloe. It's a small reprieve for the little one to just sit back and soak it all in. A table and chair tucked in a corner becomes a quiet spot to play office, color, look at books or have baby doll tea parties.
One of my first memories is my own sanctuary to play in. It was a room in the basement where mama and daddy had made it my very own house. The concrete floor was covered with a big blue rug. The door had a folding guard gate (so that I could receive visitors officially) even a push button door bell was installed. I had a little blue rocking chair, a china tea set, a red table and two chairs and a scruffy black and white stuffed dog which I perfumed up with Chanel NO.5. Me, the dog, the dolls and my favorite books. I was in heaven (for a while anyway). Thanks mama and daddy for my own space.

Train Me, I Beg You

2011-02-05T14:25:00.009-07:00

The peace and security of a child's future largely depends upon the training he receives in the first few years of his life. It's an awesome job as parents to realize the responsibility we play in teaching them the basics of happiness. How do they learn to be happy? Where they feel safe and loved...their first world..the home.
I like this poem by Mamie Gene Cole titled 'I Am the Child'.

"I am the child.
All the world waits for my coming.
And the earth watches with interest

To see what I shall become.
Civilization hangs in the balance,
For what I am
The world of tomorrow will be.

I am curious; I am interested.
I am the child.

You hold in your hand my destiny.
You determine, largely,
Whether I shall succeed or fail.

Give me, I pray you, those things
That make for happiness.
Train me I beg you, that I may be
A blessing to the world."

Beginning Steps
1. Teach me to respect life.
2. Teach me to be kind to myself and others.
3. Teach me to be grateful for all things.
4. Teach me about my Heavenly Father.

A Season of Love

2011-01-12T08:26:00.003-07:00

Love ever gives, forgives, outlives,

And ever stands with
With open hands.

And while it lives, it gives,

For this is love's perogative--

To give and give, and give.

2010-05-28T05:13:00.003-06:00

Have you ever watched how fast the grains of sand flow through an hourglass? Those are the minutes of your life. Live them. Laugh, love and play as you learn and grow through your day. Enjoy the moment. Pave your way with the sand of your life. It's your call.
Lately I find myself waking up earlier and earlier each morning. In the stillness I ponder and look for quiet things to do so as not to disturb others slumbers. Recently I've gathered my parents letters into boxes. These are treasures of correspondence during their first years of marriage. They were separated by the Korean War when my dad was called to serve. Reading these letters in the early morning hours take me far away to another place and time, a gentler time, to a new neighborhood where new home owners were out and about working in their yard, helping one another, sharing news of their lives. They looked forward to having phones installed in their homes, letters in the mail, pounding out the clods of dirt to plant grass seed, owning a power mower and having an outdoor clothesline. Why is it so interesting to me? Because I'm right there in the middle of it doing all the things a one year old does. Getting into drawers, climbing on chairs, singing 'cock a by' (rock a bye baby), staying up all night when 'someone' thought it was time to be off the bottle, and finding everyone's yard more interesting than my own. Funny how some things change in life, but there seems to be a lot that doesn't. What a treasure letters and journals are.

2009-12-02T09:08:00.005-07:00

If there is righteousness in the heart there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home there will order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation there will be peace in the world.

2009-11-15T11:35:00.002-07:00

While days are warm
and skies are blue
Spend lots of time
just being you!

God Bless America

2009-09-12T09:32:00.007-06:00

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

Come Out and Play!

2009-04-01T19:29:00.005-06:00

While days are warm and skies are blue......
Spend lots of time just being "you"!

I can remember long blissful summer days with the neighborhood gang (not as in today's gang) thinking up exciting ideas for our budding entrepreneur natures.
One of which was the neighborhood circus. We spent days practicing our acts. We were extremely impressed with our antics. There was the trapeze (a few awesome hanging maneuvers on the swing set), cartwheels and flips across the lawn, clowns with full make-up (which got us in trouble with a few of the mothers) and an amazing circus tent built from a collection of blankets rounded up from each of our homes. When the big show was ready we sold tickets to the rest of the kids who weren't in the show. Our concessions consisted of Kool-Aid in paper cups and candy we had bought from the store. It was the greatest show on earth! We were really excited if we made a profit of a few cents.

The next week we rehearsed for a fabulous theater production. We sang 'Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true....I'm half crazy over the love of you.' Another was 'A Bicycle Built for Two.' We choreographed dances and had all sorts of props. Rehearsals in a friends big shed would keep us busy for days. I don't remember getting to the ticket selling stage on that one. Probably because we were all in the play. Costuming was the fun part anyway.

Our bikes were a source of endless innovations. On warm summer evenings we would ride our bikes up to the windows of parked cars and pretend we were car hops. With pretend pencils and notepads we took orders for hamburgers and fries. When our car hop enthusiasm ran out we flipped our bikes over on the grass. Our bikes became a laundromat. We would turn the pedals so the wheels would go faster and faster. The wheels were the washing machines. We had so many customers those wheels just kept turning round and round, faster and faster.

Our biggest dream that summer was to open up a hamburger stand on the corner. If you could sell kool-aid on the corner why not sloppy joes? There were a few logistic problems with that idea. Where could we get a electrical cord long enough for the frying pan? Hmmm....We got as far as finding a large box and cutting a window in it before it was time for school to start again. Oh well, as for me that was the best part anyway...decorating the box.

What Really Matters

2009-02-06T06:02:00.003-07:00

'My mother says she does not care about the color of my hair.....Nor if my eyes are blue or brown or if my nose turns up or down. It really doesn't matter. But if I cheat or tell a lie or do mean things to make folks cry. That really does matter.
So try each day to do and say the kindest things in the kindest way.'

(Many of the important lessons of life can be taught to a child through simple poetry and verse. When memorized they will forever pop into their heads. My mother taught this one to me when I was very young. A copy of it was placed above my chore chart where I would read it everyday. Thanks mama for teaching me 'what is really important'.)

A Child's Hero

2009-01-06T14:29:00.006-07:00

"A mother has far greater influence on her children

than anyone else, and she must realize that every word she speaks,

every act, every response, her attitude, even her appearance and manner of dress affect the lives of her children and the whole family.

It is while the child is in the home that he gains

from his mother the attitudes, hope, and beliefs that will

determine the life he will live and contribution he will make to society." N. Eldon Tanner

Reflections on Black & Pink

2008-11-02T17:00:00.002-07:00

This last week I have thought about my mama who passed away 3 years ago. How I miss her. She was my greatest fan. My contemplations started last Sunday when I wore my pink and black skirt. I've had a love for pink and black combinations for a long time and suddenly the reason why came back to me.

When I was in the fourth grade Mama made me a black dress with little pink rosebuds printed all over it. I loved that dress with it's long sleeves and gathered waist. I felt like I was styling in the 4th grade. I have a memory for these kinds of details you see because I have a "passion for fashion" which goes back as far as I can remember. My earliest memories (around 3 or 4 years old) are of mama's beautiful, full skirted, white, square dancing dress. It was covered with lavender and yellow butterflies, and had a gathered lavender sash at the waist. At five I remember daddy bringing home to mama, from San Francisco, the lastest in fashion, a tan and brown stripe 'Sack' dress (this was shapeless from the shoulders down) and a pair of brown, pointed toe, shoes (nothing to rival the pointed shoes of today).

Back to my black dress. At school, during recess we had this huge inner tube (from an airplane) which we (about 25 kids, boys and girls) would jump on. The inner tube was atleast 3 feet off the ground and I don't even know how wide. But it was big. We would jump and laugh and try to bounce each other off. It was hilarious. It was probably the forerunner to the trampoline. One thing you didn't want to do was fall into the center because it soon became a football pile up. Well, on the day I was wearing my beloved black and pink dress I fell into the center and was one of the first to go down which meant I had a lot of kids on top of me. Help! Help! When I climbed out of that mess I found to my dismay that my dress was torn in a not so easy to fix sort of way. That was the end of my new black and pink dress. Now black and pink bring back the fond memories of my happy childhood and the mother who always made me feel loved.

Some of the things I learned about raising children from my mama:

1. A mother should be there to greet her children.

2. Be alert to teaching moments.

3. Talk to each child at night.

4. Have a chore box.

5. Learn to be organized so you can spend time with your family.

6. Teach values.

7. Report on happy experiences of the day.

8. Attitude starts with gratitude.

9. Seek for guidance in prayer.

10. Take pride in your calling as a homemaker.

11. Two important keys: to love and to listen.

12. Be warm, loving and accepting. Put your arms around your children often and tell them you love them.

Inspiring Thoughts

2008-10-26T17:49:00.002-06:00

Surrounding ourselves and our children with inspiring words, phrases and poems helps to remind us of our potential and purpose in life.
Candle Light
A candle's but a little thing--
It starts with just a bit of string.
Yet clipped and dipped with patient hand,
It gathers wax upon the strand.
Until, complete and snowy white.
It gives at last a lovely light.
Life seems so like that bit of string--
Each deed we do, a simple thing.
Yet day by day, if on life's errand,
We work with patient heart and hand,
It gathers joy, makes dark days bright,
And gives at last a lovely light.
Author Unknown

What I Live For

2008-10-26T17:42:00.002-06:00

'I live for those who love me.
Whose hearts are kind and true,
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit too;
For the human ties that bind me,
For the task by God assigned me,
For the bright, hopes left behind me,
And the good that I can do.'
JG Holland

Look Up

2008-10-12T16:28:00.005-06:00

When challenges come, as they always do, remember to look up. For it is a loving Heavenly Father who knows what is behind us and what is ahead, and it is He that can help us navigate the way. We don't need to do it alone. Trust Him.

"There is nothing a person can possess in this world which will bring more comfort, more hope, and faith than a testimony." David O. McKay

How To Preserve A Husband

2008-10-09T07:53:00.004-06:00

Pick one that is tender, but not too young. Add 2 cups of love and 1 cup of devotion. Mix with laughter and sweeten with smiles. DO NOT BEAT! Add a variety of spices until well seasoned. Do not pickle or put in hot water. (This makes them sour.)
Add a pinch of forgiveness, as needed. Serve daily with plenty of peaches and cream. Makes one happy marriage that keeps forever.

Beginnings.....

2008-09-25T11:37:00.006-06:00

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?" God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy." God said, "Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the child asked, "And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?" God said, "Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?" God said, "Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

God said, "You will simply call her, Mom."