Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers

"Hey, Bubba, watcha doin'?""Oh, you know, just walking my big sister around on a leash."

I love my children. I love their creativity, their spunk, and the funny things they do while playing together.

My favorite cd right now is Hilary Weeks newest cd and the song I was stuck on today was "Stand Still", which talks about how children grow up too fast. The chorus goes:

"If I could, I would ask time to stand still

so I could hold you a little longer.

I'd make the minutes stop

so we would always have today.

I wont let the sun go down

until you know how I feel.

I love you so much.

I wish time would stand still."

To hear a tidbit of this song, go here. http://hilaryweeks.com/blog/3

This song helped me realize something very important in my quest to become a Mother Who Knows.

I've struggled these past couple of months with posting the last segment of my Mothers Who Know posts because I often feel like a failure when it comes to homemaking skills. Everybody else just seems to have it together, have clean houses, cook meals every night, and nurture their children every second of every day. I know this isn't true but we usually see the best in others and the worst in ourselves.

I've learned throughout this whole experience that being a Mother Who Knows is not about being a perfect mother and homemaker. It is about trying my best with the situation that I have. Some days I do really well and other days, I don't succeed at all.

But I am a Mother Who Knows. I am not a perfect one but one who strives to live better each day. The point is that we try. We make goals and we try to keep those goals. And then we fix another area in our lives that we'd like to work on. It's a process.

Little by little, each day we become more the person we want to be. Change does not happen in an hour or usually even a day.

The biggest thing I've learned throughout this whole process is that we, as mothers, don't give ourselves enough credit. So cut yourself a little slack and I'll try to do the same.

And that's how Suze becomes a Mother Who Knows.

Mothers Who Know About Halloween

I have totally and completely NOT finished last week's Mother Who Knows challenge. And until I do, I am not going to blog about the end results. But in the meantime, my sil, Juli, blogged about it and since putting the link up isn't working correctly, here is the link to her blog. www.juliandnick.blogspot.com I hope you will go and check out what she wrote about becoming a Nurturer and a Homemaker.
Also in the meantime, I'd like to get a little less backed up on some cute Halloween photos I've been wanting to share with you. :)
My kids looked absolutely adorable for our ward Fall Festival on Saturday. I loved the beanie on Spidey but it ended up being too hot. Maybe next month.

After carving pumpkins yesterday (that will be it's own post), my kids snuggled on the couch to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas. They are getting along pretty well these days and it makes my heart happy.

Since I was supposed to dress up for work today (yes, I'm working...just filling in for 3 weeks), I decided to wear Halloween colors and wear my Mom's favorite Halloween sash that says "Your Worst Nightmare." So I was something different to everybody that saw me. Well...I thought it was pretty funny.

I took the kids trick or treating tonight (for ten minutes) and Petey insisted on being Belle. Why did I make that Queen of Hearts costume?!! :) She is so silly, that girl.

And after many fights tonight, since Spidey learned how to climb out of his crib today, the kids fell asleep sharing a bed. So sweet!
We have had a great week. Hope you have too.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers

Mothers Who Know Are Nurturers
"Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role
under the plan of happiness. To nurture
means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create
a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for
nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing
clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the
most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best
homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates
opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing
mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them
nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for
spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a “house of order,” and women should
pattern their homes after the Lord’s house (see D&C 109).
Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur
through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women. "

When I think of the word nurturing, I think of a person who speaks softly and lovingly, who shows others she cares for them and cares for herself.
This part of the talk seems easy enough and yet, it is probably more challenging than last week. I am not a good cook, nor do I like to cook. My house is often unorganized and choatic. I yell far too much at my children.
And the sad thing is, I recognize all of these things and know they are issues in my home. I am just so darn tired all the time, which can be chalked up to unhealthy eating habits and no exercise. "sigh"

This week, I plan to cook more meals for my family, organize my home, teach my children about the sweet spirits that they are, and better my health so that I have the energy to do all of the above. :)

AND Boss and I should finally be able to make it to the temple this Thursday.

I hope to make this week incredibly memorable and filled with happiness.
Because life is just too short to go through it without laughter and joy.

Please join me! And let me know if you would like to blog your feelings about how the challenge went for you this week. I'd love to give you a shout out and link to you on my blog.

And that's how Suze sees it.

Mothers Who Know Honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants

At the beginning of the week, I posted my first challenge in becoming a mother who knows. Throughout the week, I have tried to stay true to this challenge and focus on it in my daily life.
On Wednesday, I took my kids over to the temple.
I brought Spidey his favorite book...our church's hymn book. That may seem odd to you but he has loved that book ever since he was little because he sees his Aunt Candace flipping through it daily (She has autism and has the entire 300+ pages memorized). Petey and I read some scriptures while Spidey played in the dirt. (That's my boy!) And boy was she a happy camper. We only read a couple of verses but I told her some Book of Mormon stories and we talked a lot about the temple and why we go there. Go to http://www.mormon.org if you would like to know more about temples and what I believe.

Today Boss and I had planned to go to the temple together but this morning, he was throwing up. I was sad that our temple trip was going to be canceled (we also tried to go last week and had to cancel). Then, I realized I could go alone. I didn't need to have him there and it might be a good experience for me to get some personal temple time.
So I did. And it was a very spiritual morning. When I was waiting, I open the Book of Mormon where I'd been reading in my personal studies and read a couple of chapters. I was reading in 1st Nephi, chapter 4, of when Nephi went back to Jerusalem to get the golden plates. Verse 6 really stood out to me:
"And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."
Does anyone else ever feel like this? Like you know you are doing the right thing but you have no idea why? This verse hit me hard that as long as I stay close to the Spirit, I will be blessed and I will know what is right.
In those first days after being diagnosed with PCOS and realizing that it would be hard to have more children, I was angry and scared. I didn't know what to do or where to go next in my life. It wasn't until I got down on my knees and prayed that I felt peace and a reassurance that this IS the plan for me. And if I follow God's commandments, He will bless our family. And if we end up having no more children, I trust that He will give us peace to know that that is the right decision for our family.

I hope you will join me in becoming a mother who knows.

And that's how Suze sees it.

PS: If you blog about being a mother who knows, let me know so I can link up to you and refer my readers over to your blog.

Mothers Who Know Honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants

The second part of Sister Beck's talk is going to be my challenge for this week. And I would love it if anybody else would like to take on the challenge as well (If you blog about, please let me know so I can link to your blog).

Mothers Who Know Honor Sacred Ordinances and Covenants

Mothers who know honor sacred ordinances and covenants. I have visited sacrament meetings in some of the poorest places on the earth where mothers have dressed with great care in their Sunday best despite walking for miles on dusty streets and using worn-out public transportation. They bring daughters in clean and ironed dresses with hair brushed to perfection; their sons wear white shirts and ties and have missionary haircuts. These mothers know they are going to sacrament meeting, where covenants are renewed. These mothers have made and honor temple covenants. They know that if they are not pointing their children to the temple, they are not pointing them toward desired eternal goals. These mothers have influence and power.
I was married in the temple 4.5 years ago to the man I will be with forever.

That day was one of the most special days of my life. In becoming a mother who knows, I need to first take a look at myself and question whether I am doing everything in my power to stay close to the Lord.
Sister Beck talks about pointing our children in the direction of the temple so that they may set eternal goals.
This means taking them to the temple often and teaching them what the temple is.
This means going to the temple with my husband and by myself so that I can remember the covenants I've made.
This means keeping the spirit in my home no. matter. what.
These are things I need to work harder to achieve. And they are things that need to be happening now, when my children are little. But it is never too late to start teaching your children about the gospel and it is never too late to learn more about it yourself.


So this week, I am going to add this goal in with my every day life and I hope you'll take the challenge with me.


And that's how Suze sees it.

Mothers Who Know Bear Children

Tonight, I was looking through a box of stuff my sister in law, Juli, gave me before she moved to Utah last week. I thought I had seen everything in the box but when I got to the bottom, I was surprised to find a whole stack of papers, filled with quotes about womanhood and motherhood.

Also, in this stack of papers was a talk printed out by Sister Juli B. Beck entitled, "Mothers Who Know". If you go to Juli's blog you will notice the title of her blog is "A Mother Who Knows". A couple of pages into her blog, you will also find this post where she writes about become a mother who knows. If you go to her Twitter page, you will notice her Twitter name is Mother Who Knows. With all of these things staring me in the face, I am ashamed to admit that I never went and read the actual talk until it was in my hand this afternoon.

I wish I would've read it sooner because it really helped me and I now have a new goal...to become a mother who knows. I am going to do a 7 part series, focusing on each point of Sister Beck's talk individually because each deserves their own post. I hope you will join me in learning about how to be a mother who knows. And please, go read Sister Beck's talk.

Mothers Who Know Bear Children

"Mothers who know desire to bear children. Whereas in many cultures in the world children are “becoming less valued,”2 in the culture of the gospel we still believe in having children. Prophets, seers, and revelators who were sustained at this conference have declared that “God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.”3 President Ezra Taft Benson taught that young couples should not postpone having children and that “in the eternal perspective, children—not possessions, not position, not prestige—are our greatest jewels.”4

Faithful daughters of God desire children. In the scriptures we read of Eve (see Moses 4:26), Sarah (see Genesis 17:16), Rebekah (see Genesis 24:60), and Mary (see 1 Nephi 11:13–20), who were foreordained to be mothers before children were born to them. Some women are not given the responsibility of bearing children in mortality, but just as Hannah of the Old Testament prayed fervently for her child (see 1 Samuel 1:11), the value women place on motherhood in this life and the attributes of motherhood they attain here will rise with them in the Resurrection (see D&C 130:18). Women who desire and work toward that blessing in this life are promised they will receive it for all eternity, and eternity is much, much longer than mortality. There is eternal influence and power in motherhood."

This first part of the series will probably be the easiest for me. I am already a mother who wants to bear children. But I believe that this means more than just getting pregnant over and over again.

I believe that being a mother who wants to bear children also means that we want the best for the children we bear. Getting pregnant in itself is a miracle and is the starting point but it cannot end with the bearing of our children. We need to bear our children, knowing we are going to do everything in our power to help them in this life.

As mothers who know, we cannot ever give up. As President Benson said, "children...are our greatest jewels." They need to be treated as the special individuals that they are. And we should never become stagnant. Even if we think we are doing everything right as a mother, there will always be more to learn. We need to be teaching our children daily and focusing on the children we have, even if we are waiting to bear more. To me, this means more playtime with them and less computer and cleaning time. I also believe it means that after they are in bed, I am still trying to better myself as a mother. This week, I have started studying the scriptures personally, which is something I haven't done in a long time. But I have noticed a patience with my children that I didn't have before.

We need to have the desire to have children but we also need to have the desire to raise those children throughout all eternity. Once we are mothers, we are always mothers. The choice we make to bear children is one of the biggest and most rewarding decisions we will ever make.

I hope you will join me in studying this talk by Sister Beck. I know it can help me become a better mother to my children, which is what I strive for daily. I know I will never be perfect but I can always be doing better.

And that's how Suze sees it.