Trying To Simplify My Life

As a woman there are many things that I enjoy, but there are many things that I could really do with out and I would NEVER EVER miss doing ever again, like laundry, cleaning toilets, laundry, the "special" /ridiculous time of the month, and did I happen to mention laundry?

However, amid the list of things that I could do without would be my list of things that I really do enjoy, like: holding my children when they are just tiny & they cuddle up against me, reading books to them, cleaning my house (No, really! I do enjoy dusting, vacuuming, mopping, & cleaning windows.) I love being able to sit back and enjoy a clean & orderly home after I have put the effort into making it be so nice.

I Love That Feeling!!!

I also love cooking & preparing a meal for my family to sit down & enjoy at the end of the day. I feel like this is something that has taken away from families these days - to have the time to sit & enjoy a meal that has been prepared for them. In our home, it will always be a rule that we MUST come together during dinner time & spend that time as a family.

This past couple of weeks, I have been reading Little House in the Big Woods to the kids. I had read it when I was a child, & I really enjoyed it. So, I checked it out at the library & we have been reading a chapter every night. I have found that as much as I enjoyed it as a child, I think that I am appreciating & enjoying it more as a mom. I have also been reading Love Comes Softly by Jeanette Oak, which is set in the same time period as Little House. It was not planned that I would be reading these 2 books at the same time, although, I can't help but think that I needed it to happen this way.

I have been thinking about & looking at the lives of these women in these books, and just how simple and basic the needs were and still are for all of us. In my life, I feel like I am very spoiled with all of the technology & inventions that we have. Now don't get me wrong; I am very grateful for most all of them, but I have been feeling that I really need to get back down to the basics of taking care of each other and seeing to our daily needs. There is so much extra that we add into our lives that is really not needed.

So, I have decided that we are going to simplify on some things: our first step is to disconnect Dish Network. Now, any of you that know me, you can testify how much I love TV. However, we watch way too much of it, & we can definitely benefit from having less of the worldly influence in our home. We have talked about getting rid of it before & now, we are really going to do it. Wish us luck!

We need to detox! But, nevertheless, we are going to give it a shot. I have to start somewhere & this is where I have felt that we need to start.

As women I feel like we are each others worst critics. We are very judgmental with each other & most of all on ourselves. I am also going to try to be better at this. In the books I am reading, the women have had to rely on their own knowledge & help from other women. Our Relief Society lesson yesterday was on Sisterhood & the blessing of the Relief Society. We as women truly do need other women; we need someone we can talk to, someone who can teach us how to sew & make bread. In turn, we can teach others, how to cook & care for a fussy child, or whatever the need may be.

I am so thankful for the women in my life that have been there to help me in my times of need. This is a very hard & heavy task that we have upon us to be wives & mothers in these times. It is up to us to make sure that we are raising our children to be the future leaders of the world, those who will welcome in the coming of our Savior. This in & of itself can be a very daunting task. I hope that we can truly come together in each others aid to help, lift & support one another in this journey we are on.

I found this quote from Pres Hinckley & I wanted to share this because I love it, and I need to be reminded of this on a regular basis.

President Gordon B. Hinckley on motherhood:

“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)

You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.” Gordon B. Hinckley, “Women of the Church,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 67