Staceys

Staceys
The Stacey Seven

Friday, April 18, 2008

Treasure the moments??

In General Conference a couple weeks ago, we were instructed to enjoy the moments in motherhood and life. After all, isn't that what we remember the most- certain moments. We've had a couple moments in the last week- some that I'm not sure I want to remember, but know that unfortunately I will. It is totally embarrassing though funny enough to share....
Our family was asked to sing in church. We chose the song "Love is Spoken Here". It's truly AMAZING that JD even said YES to doing this. But, we have such a small ward and were trying to help contribute to the spirit of the meeting- so he agreed. We get up there to sing and Jordyn and I start on our part. The spirit was there to help us out and I could even see some ladies starting to tear up. It was sweet. Then the boys started to sing their part and I realized that nobody can hear Luke and Joey at all, so I gently pushed the microphone down towards them. (At this point, our friends in the back said "Uh-Oh.") Well- Luke (5) saw his opportunity to be a STAR! He grabbed the microphone and started singing right into it quite loudly. I obviously didn't anticipate that! So when Tyson started laughing- I quickly gave him that motherly look (the one that says "Stop that- right now!"). However, probably the fact that I was already shaky and nervous about being up there and the sound of Tyson's giggle made me start to giggle! I stared at the wall trying to gain composure and sing the rest of the song. It just seemed like the harder I tried to be serious the more impossible it became. I think at one point that JD was the only one singing cuz the rest of us were giggling! It was horribly irreverent and embarrassing.
When my sister Lindsay and I were children we got sent away from the dinner table SOOO many times because we got the giggles and couldn't seem to be normal enough to eat dinner without getting out of control. Well, the 7 year old in me still comes out sometimes! BUT, I guess I can learn some compassion from this. For my own crazy kids and the cute Primary kids in my care who are not purposefully trying to be irreverent or disobedient- they just get a little rowdy sometimes! So- Laugh all you want- just not in Sacrament meeting at the pulpit!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Deeper Thoughts

I know that whenever I talk to a friend or teach a lesson about something I've learned- it always stays with me more for some reason. Maybe it's just in the sharing of the emotions. Or maybe I actually feel like I am accountable to live that way once I tell someone else what I've learned. That has been the case with my last blog- I shared a win of having a house of order and then realized that if I'm declaring that - then I also have to actually keep up with that. And it's actually helped me KEEP the house in order more so. So, with that being said- I wanted to share some deeper insights to things I've been learning so that I can concrete them in my mind. And maybe create some value for anyone else who cares to read this blog.

I taught the Valiant 9 class at church for the month of February. The lessons were all about Nephi from the Book of Mormon. I love Nephi anyway- but as I prepared for these lessons I gained a much greater appreciation for how much God loves us!

I'ts Amazing to me that God asked Nephi to build a boat to take them very far across many rough waters- what a huge undertaking! He also didn't just drop tools from Heaven, Nephi had to make them. He knew what God asked him to do and got right to work. My favorite part of the story is in 1 Nephi 17: 8 that says "Thou shalt construct a ship after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters." The last sentence hit me like a ton of bricks! The picture that came into my mind was God's big hands carrying Nephi's boat accross the water safely to their destination.

It seems to me that if He will do that for Nephi and his family- He will do that for me. And that Heavenly Father is a lot closer in my life than I had ever knew before! In verse 13 of the same chapter it says "...I will prepare the way before you.... and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

I took Pres. Eyring's counsel from the last General Conference to keep a journal every day of how you have seen the Lord's hand in your life. It was a little different for me to give specific credit to Heavenly Father for all the little things that went well and that I enjoyed in the day. But, it's also helped me see that He carries our family over smooth and rough waters. We have to do a lot of work!! In a sense- we must make our own tools and then build a huge boat. We can't afford to be lazy like Laman and Lemuel, we must get right to work and do what we know we must do. But, as we do that we will know "That it is by me that ye are led." And also in verse 40 "he loveth those who will have him to be their God." Which to me means that I must keep acknowleding His hand everyday and do what what He wants me to do and not always what I want to do.

This might be kind of weird for a blog, but .....Thanks for allowing me to share my heart with you!