In no particular order, and with an astonishing lack of pictures…
1. Reading Anne of Green Gables with my daughter every night.
Better enjoy using the phrase “my daughter” (singular) while I still can, right? By the end of next month we’re going to have another one! Yes!
We laugh together, learn “new” (old) words together, and enjoy frolicking through those gloriously descriptive passages. And the characters! How we find them enchanting. I certainly had a different perspective when I read these books 15 years ago. Creativity read an abridged version of the book – maybe even several times, come to think of it – over the last few years, so it’s easy for her to know what’s going on. “This version is much funnier!” she says. I agree.
Anne is quite a bit like my sweet Creativity in her passion and range of feelings; I find myself now a bit lot more like Marilla, having focused too much on that which is mundane and practical over the last several years. I feel my daughter’s happiness in being validated as a rather spirited little girl, and find myself reminded not to be such a fuddy-duddy all the time. A big-puffy-sleeved dress every once in a while is not a tragic waste of fabric. Truly.
It’s a wonderful experience when two bookworms spend time reading together. And speaking of reading, another favorite thing lately has been…
2. Using “100 Easy Lessons” to teach my 5 yo son to read.
Why they call them “easy” lessons, I still don’t know. They require a child to use their brain – really put it to work, they do – and a young child finds that anything but easy. Oh, the lessons are well within their grasp and the rate of progression is slow enough that they rarely notice how things are indeed getting more advanced… but still. I would have called it “100 gently-incremental lessons” rather than “easy.” Easy sounds like sunshine and lollipops, which this isn’t. Maybe if I added some lollipops to the equation it would be. Hm.
Notice, however, that it IS on my favorite things list, difficulty & misleading title notwithstanding. I truly love watching my children learn and being right there on the ground floor while they do it — especially the learning to read part.
3. Friends who are extra kind to me.
They always throw out the pregnant card for me, like I deserve special treatment since baby is only 6 weeks away from coming,
and I am always happy to accept all this wonderful help whether or not I feel deserving of special treatment,
it’s just such a wonderful blessing to be surrounded by so many thoughtful, kind, caring people.
4. A husband who pampers me.
He even does it on my bad days. Those are the days I go into hiding. I always want to be completely cut off from the world. LEAVE ME ALONE, stamped on my forehead. That sort of thing. He lovingly lets me try to hibernate and laughingly takes care of the children – who are most benefited by someone a little more cheerful & fun than a grouchy old bear Mom.
And we all live through it until I find myself again. As difficult as it is being pregnant sometimes, I don’t think I’d want to be the one tasked with trying to take care of me. Nope. To each their own. Mr. Smith has a tough job but he handles it well.
5. Reading a General Conference talk every day.
It’s such a nice, simple thing to do, with such inspiring and happy results. We have it so easy! MY GOODNESS! Click on a link and -ta da!- power-packed words of inspiration and insight. Right there. The more we can fill our lives with truth and light, the better we can handle life with all its ugliness and sorrows.
During the first session of April/2013 General Conference, Sis. Dalton firmly taught yet again the importance of virtue in her talk titled “We Are Daughters of Our Heavenly Father.” I heard her words ringing over the horror of explosions and grief in Boston today.
“Again I renew the call for a return to virtue. Virtue is the strength and power of daughters of God. What would the world be like if virtue—a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards, including chastity8—were reinstated in our society as a most highly prized value? If immorality, pornography, and abuse decreased, would there be fewer broken marriages, broken lives, and broken hearts? Would media ennoble and enable rather than objectify and degrade God’s precious daughters? If all humanity really understood the importance of the statement “We are daughters of our Heavenly Father,” how would women be regarded and treated?”
Yes, she was directing her talk specifically to women. The impact of a “return to virtue” would not end with healthier families, more uplifting media, and better treatment of women across the globe. If we had healthier families in general, we would see far greater peace in general.
Is it wrong of me to think this way? Any time I hear of catastrophes around the world, I always hear yet another call to repentance. An increase in faith and an increase in collective obedience to God’s laws is the only answer I see. Governments cannot fix or prevent the kinds of problems we are seeing today. You cannot legislate goodness into lawless hearts.
You can, however, parent goodness into young hearts. We can change the whole world in just one generation if we were all to return to “a patter of thought and behavior based on high moral standards” in everything we did – and especially in our teaching & rearing of children.
And that is why, hearing of disasters like the bombing in Boston, while my heart breaks for those living through a nightmare, my heart is also strengthened in its resolve to simply continue doing what needs to be done right here at home.
A little more from Sis. Dalton:
“As daughters of God we are each unique and different in our circumstances and experiences. And yet our part matters—because we matter. Our daily contributions of nurturing, teaching, and caring for others may seem mundane, diminished, difficult, and demeaning at times, and yet as we remember that first line in the Young Women theme—“We are daughters of our Heavenly Father, who loves us”—it will make all the difference in our relationships and our responses.”
And I believe it will eventually make all the difference in the world.
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I love your thoughts here about seeing disasters as a call to repentance. I fully agree with you. Legislation is not the answer; a return to God is the only answer for our broken families and broken governments and broken world. I truly hope that people will come to know Him better!