I am a widow. Avery’s a widow. My husband died at 50. Avery’s husband died in his 50’s. I have nine children. Avery has 3 children. I am of the LDS faith. Avery is of the LDS faith. I have a lot in common with Avery. Laurie Lewis’s new book called Awakening Avery could have been my journal entry for the first year I lost my husband. There are many similarities and it is incredible to see how this story unfolds for Avery and her family.
This is an amazing story of one woman’s journey for peace after losing her husband too early. Avery has to deal with her life post husband’s death and then pick up the pieces of her children’s life with the grief of their father. I laughed and I cried. It is an incredible journey of healing and love. Take a break from your life for 344 pages of travel from Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland to Sarasota, Florida and follow the adventures Avery experiences in learning to love again.
Our flower bed is done, school is almost over, our vegetable garden is growing, our national pastime has once again started another season and we have more daytime to do what ever we need. So why is there an uneasy feeling in the back of my mind?
I can’t help but think about that oil spill not yet capped, the economy going south the way it has in the last year, Nashville is recovering from the biggest flood it’s ever had, and Arizona is taking flak for a new immigration law. Natural disasters and political debates are throwing a black cloud on the start of the summer but it’s the upcoming election in November that is giving me that dreadful sinking feeling. Are we going to experience the same disgust and frustration that our elected officials are not listening to what we want in deciding the laws of the land? I hope not.
News reports show that incumbents will not be doing well in the upcoming primaries according to polls taken for the 2010 election. This past Tuesday was the first primary for the Senate in four states: Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The feeling of “send the same people back to Washington, will guarantee the same result” are causing Americans every where to vote for anyone but the incumbent. All over the country, polls are showing a low vote for incumbents in trying to gain the same seat they had before, proving to the rest of the world that we are not going to put up with politicians who don’t listen.
What I am beginning to see is that American citizens do remember the arrogance and total disregard for the Constitution that these elected officials seem to have and they do not want it to happen again. It doesn’t matter whether they are Republican or Democrat, if they have been elected before; chances are they won’t be again. By and large this nation is still a conservative nation and if those who are elected do not vote on bills by the will of the people, the people will find someone else who will.
I think the time for the “career” politician is over. Americans are licking their wounds from the last “change for better” election but they won’t let it happen again. Most people see these elected officials as so out of touch with the American people that it doesn’t matter what these incumbents promise, no one will believe them.
The uneasy feeling of incumbents returning to their old job makes everyone nervous including me so when June 1st comes around for the Alabama primary, (find out when your state has it's primary) I for one will make sure I vote and vote for a candidate who will follow the Constitution and not disregard what the will of the people want……and I’m sure everyone else will vote the same way.
I am grateful for my dryer. I am grateful for my dryer........ I keep repeating this statement because as Mondays go, I do laundry and I finished off 6 loads today and on the last load, the motor in the dryer was going but the drum was not. The light went on when I opened the door but no matter what setting I put the dryer on, the drum would not go around so I was forced to hang up the last load---which is really a great thing---and call the GE guy tommorow. This happy picture I posted is of Lydia, when she first dyed her hair pitch black and Moses, posing as if he were on the movie of Zoolander. We had a great weekend with getting much accomplished and hanging out with friends for a relaxing evening but now it's back to reality: working like crazy on our own businesses to keep up with the money going out to keep our family going........ Life will be fine soon. We just need to keep going in the career goals we have set for ourselves. I am grateful for my dryer. I am grateful for my dryer.......
This is what I wrote about this week for my weekly newspaper editorial. This message is so important---it should be posted in every paper and on every blog!!! Mothers are important!!!!! This past Sunday was Mother’s Day and to all you mothers, I hope you had a wonderful day. Bringing children into this life is a great blessing. In this modern society, I believe that many young couples do not believe or understand that children are a blessing. They are afraid of how adding children to their union will affect themselves. If they are selfish, then the children will suffer. If they are willing to sacrifice something in their life for something better, then children become a welcomed blessing. What else is there to live for if we do not have people who are important to us in our life? Certainly, leisure and travel activities become boring after a while. You can travel around the world many times and still not have joy when returning home. Our employment can only give us so much satisfaction until even our work takes a back seat to our families. I think most parents don’t realize the importance of their influence in their children’s lives. As one famous American poet, William Ross Wallace said so well, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world”. The hand that teaches their children right from wrong is the hand that influences children for good. The hand that shows kindness, discipline and courage is the hand that raises young children to be caring adults. It is an important calling. Children learn best from their mothers. Realize the importance of raising children to be good productive citizens. Appreciate who you have given birth to in this life. Motherhood is a sacred calling. To have so much influence to do good over one person in a life is very powerful. The words of Washington Irving, an early American writer, rings true: “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” We might repeat ourselves a million times and have many tasks at home to accomplish. Some of us might have many burdens to carry without the recognition we deserve, but the message does sink in eventually and our tasks become less burdensome as time progresses. Motherhood might be a difficult job but it is the best career you will ever have. We can help our children see their potential in life for one day they will rise up and call us a great blessing.
This is the cake that Moses made for his Boy Scout Cake Auction. It's of Moses parting the sea or rather cake frosting. Lydia made one too. Her cake has flowers. Both cakes did well in the auction and now the boy scouts have enough money to go to camp.
I have been reading and listening to a lot of motivational talks to help improve my attitude lately. For humans, it is difficult to plod along the path for our work, in whatever we do, without getting discouraged. We try to attain the goals that we make but the burden gets heavy at times and we need an uplifting word to keep us going.
Here are a few suggested actions for us to stay positive in 2010. 1. Finish what you start!! When you get into something, finish it. Don’t let it go. Whether it’s playing soccer or taking a class, finish what you have started and it will give you the feeling of accomplishment. 2. Get a Vision: Find the vision of what you want to accomplish. Stay motivated by reading or listening every day to whatever it is you want to do. 3. Persevere: When the going gets tough the tough get going!!! Get up and do something to contribute to your vision of what you want to accomplish. 4. Be Courageous: It takes courage to have the convictions in accomplishing what you deem very important. Whether it’s raising children or finishing a book, work on it everyday and remember your convictions in what you want to do. 5. Be a good example: There are so many people who are lost and looking for something. Be a good example to those around you and it will help them and you to be better people.
Through all the tragic news we hear every day, keeping a positive attitude becomes a chore. Think of these five helpful suggestions and your attitude will improve over time.
Easter weekend is upon us. I'm working three days a week right now to make sure we have enough to live on for the month. Between Jim and mine paychecks---we should be okay.
Our first official month with Amway is done and we did pretty well so far. We are finding more and more people who love Amway products so we are focusing on product sales. Very interesting.
I'm back in the swing of doing family history again. Sarah started doing research and I caught the Elijah bug. More family members to record in our family history. Very exciting.
We saw the movie "The Bounty Hunter" tonight and it was okay. I really like Gerard Butler but that wasn't one of his best.
We live in a modern society.Communication has made the rest of the world very small. The internet takes us all over the world and we can “talk” to people anywhere.An added blessing to the internet is the fact that families can keep in touch with each other.
Social Networking is a relatively new term in the English language.Thanks to the internet we can “MySpace”, “Facebook”, “Bebo”, and “Twitter”.We can get “LinkedIn” or “Tagged” but only if you sign on to these websites.
When “MySpace” came out I wasn’t really that interested.The website consisted of mostly teenagers posting sayings and pictures on their webpage.But when “Facebook” was born it took my daughter several months to talk me into signing on. Once I got on, I was hooked.I found many of my high school friends and caught up on their lives, children, husbands and careers. I also found many friends I knew when I lived in different parts of the country over the years.The best thing about being a part of social networking websites is that I can click on my children’s personal page and check out what they are doing.I see my grandchildren’s pictures and messages and I catch up on where my children are traveling.It is a blessing.
There are also websites for high school and college classmates where you can find all of those wonderful friends you graduated with and you wrote in their yearbooks that you would never forget….ever!!It’s amazing how fast time flies.
Then you have networking websites, which focus on all kinds of hobbies and careers such as dancing, gardening, crafts, quilting, cooking, books, music, motherhood, even non-profit organizations, so you can keep up with the latest.Every shared interest has an online networking system where you can find other people interested in the same ideals and activities as you.
No longer do you have to scout around your community looking for someone with common interests, especially if they are not well known like model train building.As Wikipedia reports these social networking websites are beginning to tap into the power for what they call “social good.” “Such models provide a means for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested users.”
Of course it doesn’t take the place of real people but it is a good way to connect to others and eventually meet real people with whom you have a connection.So if you have children living far away or interests in something obscure, social networking online is the place for you.
