In the beginning....

 Growing up the only thing that I wanted was to be a wife and a mother.  I thought about being a nurse (which would still be awesome one day) but my number one goal in life was getting married to my own price charming who would come in and sweep me off my feet, and we would have several beautiful, well behaved and completely obedient children.  My life would be a fairy tale come true!  I would be the ever present mother that always woke with a smile and had a warm breakfast ready when everyone woke up, milk and cookies for when the children returned home from school, yellow balloons to hand out to them just for fun.  Somewhere between me singing, and dancing around while cleaning up the home (similar to the scene in Enchanted) I would find time to exercise if  I needed to.  I would always look the part of the beautiful wife completely put together when my husband returned home from work only to find a balanced meal ready to be eaten.   Together we would tuck our perfect little children into bed after we helped them say their prayers and they would be off to dreamland!  Then I woke up......

Here I am pregnant with my seventh child and nineteen years later and I have learned that my "fairy tale" life looks a lot different than the one I had in my mind as a young wife and mother.  I did marry my prince charming, but I found out that marriage is a work in progress!  We actually needed to be a priority to each other, we would need to be forgiving of each other, and I learned that nobody is perfect--- especially not me!  I learned that the mornings when I wake up and have a hot meal ready for the children is usually on a day when no one has school and I have unlimited time in the morning, other than that -- cold cereal.  I do have hot chocolate chip cookies when the children come home from school..... a couple times a year!  Not nearly as often as I had anticipated.  There has not been many yellow balloons, and hardly any singing and dancing as I do the laundry, the endless dishes or vacume the floor.  I found out that I do need to exercise and that it doesn't happen as often as I wish it would.  Most nights Mike is working and our balanced meal..... well I go through times of cooking and times of corn dogs.  By bed time my energy and patience have usually been left somewhere (probably with the rest of my mind) and for the most part alone, I shoo the kids off to bed as quickly as I can so that I can have a second to myself. Before starting my dream life again the next morning :) 

I have learned a very valuable lesson over the years.  I have learned that being a wife and a mother are not always the beautiful painting I had pictured in my mind but that it is exactly what I want to be doing and it is exactly right where I am supposed to be!!!  It is an amazing gift that I have been given and the opportunity of a lifetime!  I have learned that having children and raising them is at times the hardest thing I have had to do and yet it is most rewarding career any woman can have.  I have learned that I am not just raising my children to be good citizens of their community.  It is not just about raising them to be a doctor, lawyer, nurse, teacher etc.  It is about encouraging them to be the best that they can be here on this earth-- but they will be so much more than that. They can become mothers and fathers, they can become like their Heavenly Father one day.  It doesn't end here for them, nor does it end for me.  


January 2014

So..... I wrote the above a couple of years ago and have yet to publish it.  Partly because I am nervous to open up this project that I have felt compelled to start-- for a couple of reasons.  1.  I don't feel like I am an expert in anything, and I don't pretend to know or do all that I want to put out there on this blog, and I don't want others to think that I feel that I know it all. Which leads to my next reason.    2. Unfortunately, I am what some would like to call a "people pleaser" I am a creature of some fears.  I don't like to cause waves, I like everyone to be happy, and I fear that some of the things that will be shared might cause some to get upset,  however I am learning that this is a part of life- and that not all people will agree with me, or the things posted here- they may not even like me and that is okay.  3.  I also have to admit that it does seem a little overwhelming- I have been prompted and prodded to get this started and I feel like I have finally been driven to do so.  

This first post will be a little lengthy in order to give background and to set the stage for my reasons to start this blog.  This is intended to give encouragement, uplift, and to help us find joy in being women, mothers, sisters, a wife, and a daughter.  It is also to help women feel empowered, and find strength to do all that our Father in Heaven requires of His daughters.  I have several daughters of my own and I pray that they will feel the beauty of and the excitement in being a daughter of God.  That they will find value in being a wife, mother and a woman.  I believe that we have been saved to come at such a time as this, because the Lord needs us to be here now.  He needs us to be strong, and to stand up for what is right.  I hope and pray that as I share my personal thoughts, and as we learn about other strong, and valiant women and as I share lessons from our prophets that these will inspire us to do a little better, try a little harder.  I hope that it will help us Have Understanding Be Believing and Live Extraodinary!  It will help us HUBBLE!  


WHY HUBBLE???

Well,...... Here goes my story.  Several years ago I went on a trip to Washington DC with a couple of my girlfriends.  It was a time in my life when I was really struggling.  I wasn't sure that being a "mom" was all that I was meant to do- that somehow I had lost my way and that I was meant to do so much more in this life than all of the mundane tasks of a wife and mother.  In my mind this was such a contradiction because as you may have read, being a mother is all I ever wanted to do.  I didn't expect to feel overwhelmed, tired, unappreciated, and over-worked.  I didn't expect mother-hood to be so hard.  Along with all of the "mother" trouble I was feeling,  I also felt guilt because of the feelings I had been having.  We were also going through a really tough financial trial.  My husband knew that I was at the very end of my rope- so he sold some of our assets to help me to go "find" myself.  I know that at the time some thought it was the most unwise use of money- of coarse it probably was.  I could have bought food, paid the electric bill etc..... the list could go on and on.  I knew for me that I needed to get away and have time to fill my cup.  I really needed some help from above, and I needed it soon.  It was all getting too much for me.  I admit that going to Washington DC was a little out there, but this is my story- and this is what I needed to do.  I needed to be in this place, at this time, with these women in order for the Lord to speak to me, and He knew that it was vitally important that I was in a place where I could hear Him.  He knew exactly what my needs were.  So, my journey took me east.   


DC is an amazing place rich with history.  I loved every minute of it.  We toured as much as we could, every day from dawn to dusk we were bustling about, taking it all in.  The answer to my questions about my worth and what my purpose in this life actually came in the most unlikely of places.  - The air and space museum.  I know...... how could my answer come there.  It was unexpected for me as well.  We had debated on watching the Hubble 3D IMAX movie, or continue on our tour.  We had been walking around a lot and decided to sit for a movie.  

As I sat and watched the scene play out on the screen before me I was amazed at what I saw.  I have always been fascinated with space.  As a child I watched a movie called "Space Camp" and I thought for sure that one day I would be traveling out there.  I love flying and it seemed like adventure awaited me in the sky.  But, aerospace was not in the cards for me.......  Then, a funny thing happened.... As the movie went on I began seeing through different eyes.  I was not just seeing what the hubble telescope was seeing but I was understanding a little more about what I was seeing.  It was all unexpected, the lessons that would be taught to me in a 43 minute movie would change my life.  I began to "feel" things that have been hard to find words for.  I looked to my friend next to me to see if she were getting the same thing out of this as I was.  She was asleep.  I wanted to say something to her, but because she was resting I was left alone to my thoughts and the inspiration that I was experiencing.  The beautiful images I was seeing I understood to be literal creations of God.  I have always know that God created the universe, a truth that I have never questioned.  I watched as the narrator told of a star being "born", and others that had run their coarse and were dying.  It was then that I was overwhelmed with a knowledge that our Heavenly Father has done all of this for us...... for me.  He created all of these things for a little, insignificant person like me.  ALL that He does and all that He as ever done is for His children.  Space is His playground, a place where He gets to use imagination and power to create things.  If God can do all of this and has all of this power, why would he care for me.....  when He has so many children, why would I matter to Him?  I had then an experience that I hope I will not forget... I had a voice in my mind tell me that He does all of this because of me- because He loves me .... He loves all His children.  It was then impressed upon me the importance of being a mother.  I am not just a mom so that I can clean up after little people, so that I can help them with their homework and do school projects.  It isn't just so that they have someone there when they need a kiss because they skinned a knee, or even just to listen to them because someone was cruel.  All of those are part of a much bigger picture.  I have been given charge of these special spirits not only to help them become good and honorable adults who can contribute to society.  I am raising them to be so much more than they will ever be able to become in this life time...... I am raising them to become Gods and Goddesses - to one day be able to have space be their playground.  To have them become just like their Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.  There is so much more than this point in time that we call mortality.  The feelings that I had cannot be expressed accurately in words.  However, I knew then that this one moment in the IMAX would change my life.  It completely changed the way I viewed my role as a mother.  I could feel the weight of my responsibilities as the guardian of the children that Heavenly Father had sent to me.  My job as a mom- that is more important than any  other position I could hold in this life.  

I also felt the need to share my experience, and learn more about the importance of women to our Heavenly father, what I can do to be more bold, and be a tool in His hands.  Since that day I have been compelled to learn more and to start this blog for my daughters, and sisters.  As said before I hope that this will encourage them to endure the hard things we are called to do, because there is a greater purpose.  We are needed!  We have been saved to do things now that only we can do.  So as I begin this journey I pray that I will
Have
Understanding
Be
Believing
Live
Extraordinary!

And that I can encourage my daughters to do the same.  That they will find meaning in their life, and know that it is a privilege to be a woman in these last days.  I will close this with a quote from President Spencer W. Kimball "To be a righteous woman is a glorious thing in any age.  To be a righteous woman during the winding up scenes on this earth, before the second coming of our Savior, is an especially noble calling.  The righteous woman's strength and influence today can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times.  She has been placed here to help to enrich, to protect, and to guard the home- which is society's basic and most noble institution.  Other institutions in society may falter and even fail, but the righteous woman can help to save the home, which may be the last and only sanctuary some mortals know in the midst of storm and strife."

We need to Have understanding- why we are here, who we are, our responsibilities, what we can do to make a difference, what's required of us....... the list goes on and on
We need to Be Believing- Believe in our Heavenly Father, Believe in our Savior Jesus Christ, Believe in each other, and Believe in ourselves.
We need to Live Extraordinary!!!  Make a difference- I know we can!!  

So...... I have been nervous for years to start this- here it goes.........