Last Sunday I was concerned about my daughter's oxygen levels (low 90's because of her recent illness), so after the main church meeting, I brought her home.  Since she was missing her Sunday class, I wanted her to have a meaningful Sunday-type experience, so I went to  lds.org and checked out the Bible videos which use text directly from the New Testament and are stories from the life of Christ and his apostles.  I have been meaning to take a look at them for a while and I'm glad I finally did. We watched quite a few--they're all pretty short--and I really enjoyed them.  They held my daughter's attention too.  They're done very authentically and it gives the viewer a taste of what Christ's life was like.  I almost wish they could add to the words in the New Testament and make the videos a little longer but they really wanted to stay true to the scriptures and there's a lot to be said for that.  The viewer can add their own meanings and mi...

Recently my husband stumbled across Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire:  The Methods and Madness inside Room 56 by Rafe Esquith.  He listened to it as an e-book from the public library and really liked it.  So he got the book for me and I read it too.  It's a quick read and interesting.  I'm not sure how life-changing it will be for anyone, but with all the debate about education, it is certainly relevant.  Education is the new wealth, according to George Will. Perhaps what I liked most about the book is hearing the ways that he has been successful in helping lower-income children rise above their circumstances and move out of this impoverished world that they live in.  One of the ways he does this is through high expectations.  He requires an essay from his students every week and a very long book report every month.  He has a book club and tries to instill a love of reading in his students.   He has a movie club t...

My youngest turned 6 on Sunday!  It would have been a perfect day except she was sick, poor girl.  It's some kind of virus that is giving her a fever and a lot of coughing, so she's had to be on some extra oxygen.  Minor illnesses cause problems for her that most kids never see.  But that's just how it is and we deal with it. In so many ways, she is doing very well these days.  Just since school has started, she has become an artist!  She never drew pictures before kindergarten, just a lot of scribbling.  But now she draws suns and skies and grass and stick figures with eyelashes and fingers and hair and clothes.  It is so fun to see.  She used to be very delayed in her fine motor skills with very weak hands but she really has made a lot of progress in the last year or two.  She loves to write short letters, asking me how to spell various words.  At the beginning of the school year, she disliked having to w...

Finally, here's my post about Boston! After we spent a week in D.C. , we were off to Boston where my brother and his family live.  It took us a full day to drive there.  We should have left earlier but we were slow. That drive to Boston was during a tropical storm (Bertha, maybe?) and it rained The. Whole. Day.  It poured.  Being from the dry West, we don't see a ton of rain but on this day, we did.  It was tedious to listen to the rain beat down all day but at least we weren't out trying to see sites. We wanted to see the Statue of Liberty as we went by New York.  So our plan was to get on the Staten Island Ferry and cross over to Manhatten, seeing the Statue en route.  There were a few problems with this plan that we discovered about an hour away. 1.  It was pouring rain--not ideal weather to see the Statue. 2.  The Staten Island Ferry no longer carries cars, unfortunately. We tried to come up with alternatives but finally d...

On Wednesday, we took our third son to the LDS Missionary Training Center and said goodbye for two years.  He is going on an LDS mission to the Ukraine, speaking Russian, and helping the people there learn about Christ.  On Tuesday night, our church leaders set him apart as a missionary for our church--another great moment for our family.  It feels like we've had a lot of those lately. I have to admit, this is the hardest kind of goodbye I've had to do, even though this is exactly what I want my son to be doing.  My husband said, "It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't cry every time!"  I didn't cry before that moment and I didn't spend the rest of the day crying either. It was just that moment where the emotions punch you right in the gut and you can't keep back those tears. Maybe it's because I feel like I've spent the first almost-19 years of his life preparing for this day.  And maybe it's because I...

Last Christmas I gave my husband a Champion juicer.  I was not at all interested in juicing, but he wanted one, mostly for the health benefits.  There was no way I was going to buy a brand-new one and pay full price, especially since I really didn't think we would use it much.  So I went on Ebay and found a lightly-used one for a pretty good price. He was pleased with it and it has been a good juicer but, sure enough...we haven't used it a lot.  When life gets busy, you just don't have time for juicing.  However, this week, a friend called me with a question about her juicer.  She just recently got one and was having trouble putting it together.  So that inspired me to get ours out even though I had NEVER used ours.  I figured out how to put it together (with a phone call to my husband) and then I decided to juice some apples and carrots.  I am not that fond of carrot juice but I made some for my husband (without the parsley!) ...

In the 23 years since I've become a parent, I can't tell you how many times people have told me, "Kids grow up so fast."  My standard response is to smile and agree, but inwardly think, "Not really!"  With a large family and an age range of  17 years, I had babies and toddlers for what felt like a really long time.  When my older children left home, I didn't miss them quite as much because I still had a lot at home to keep me busy.  Lately, though, I'm reaching the point where it feels like maybe my children really are growing up fast.  My youngest just started kindergarten, my oldest just became a father, and my third child is about to leave on a mission for our church next week.  In ten years almost everyone will be out of the house! So you might think I'm too late to read this book, No Regrets Parenting , which actually got published just last year, and you might be right--ten years ago would have been better.  B...