MaeLyn's Musings

Josh's 5th grade class got to go to Calwood , an outdoor overnight experience a couple hours away from here. They left Wednesday morning and returned Thursday afternoon, so it was a fairly quick trip. He learned about plants and animals, went on hikes, and studied some of the effects of the flooding a few months ago in a nearby town.  It seems like he learned a lot and had a good experience there. I'm glad that he had the chance to go. Calwood Click on the link to see a few pictures they took there!

A few days ago, I read a blog which made me realize that I have made a serious mistake as a mother. I have unconsciously convinced my children that life is about having fun. I don't know exactly when it started. Maybe it was when they started school and I would send them off telling them to "have fun today." Maybe it was when I would try to begin a conversation at the dinner table by asking, "Who had fun today?" Maybe it was when my children would return home from school, an activity, or a friend's house, and the first thing I would ask them was, "Did you have fun?" At any rate, the damage has been done. In the children's prayers, they frequently ask, "please bless that we will have a fun day today." I have one child who has recently made a habit of asking, "What can I do that is fun?" And if I ask this child to do any chores, the response is frequently, "But that's not fun!" I'm not saying that there ...

Last night, Josh and Peter participated in their pack's Pinewood Derby. (And I actually remembered to bring the camera!) Here is Josh with his LEGO car...  ...and Peter with his banana car. We arrived around 6:30, and had to do a bit of work to get the boys' cars as close to the weight limit (5 oz) as possible without going over. Below, Steven drilled holes in the bottom of Peter's car in order to insert a lead weight.  As Assistant Cub Master, Steven got to man the computer program which kept track of whose turn it was to race. They did the race in three heats, one for each den, and then the fastest two cars from each den raced at the end. Josh's car got second place for the Webelos, and I think someone said he got 4th place over all. Peter's car won third place for the Wolves. (I think when I took the picture, he was disappointed that he wasn't in the top two and wasn't able to be in the final set of races.) It was a great oppor...

Institute this morning was on Alma 17-24. Here are some of the things we discussed: Ways to prepare to serve as a missionary: (See Alma 17:2,3,11)    1. Search the scriptures    2. Pray    3. Fast    4. Develop patience    5. Develop long-suffering    6. Become dedicated    7. Learn to serve (v. 25) Gifts we can receive through our preparation: (same verses as above)    1. Gift of Prophecy    2. Gift of Revelation    3. Power and authority    4. We become good examples    5. We are instruments in God's hands    6. Be able to speak with boldness (Alma 18:24) It was pointed out that the great missionaries of the Book of Mormon taught three main things (See Alma 18:36-39 and Alma 22:13-14):    1. The Creation    2. The Fall of Adam    3. The Atonement When the king of the Lamanites found his mortal life was t...

Saturday was a very busy day for me. We got up around 7am, got dressed, had breakfast, tossed some pork in the crock pot for dinner, and Steven, Hannah, Josh, Peter and I drove the five miles to the church to get there by 8:00. It was our family's turn to help clean the church building. I dropped the rest of the family off, then drove to the home of John's scout leader to pick John up from a scout campout in the backyard, dropped John off at a middle school in the area for a  Mathcounts Competition at 8:30, then returned to the church (about 15 mile round trip) to help with the cleaning. We finished around 9:30 and returned home, to do chores and straighten up our house. I even had time to play a game with Peter before a little after 11:00, when I returned to the school where John was, to watch the final round of the competition and the awards ceremony. Mathcounts is a series of competitions where middle school students are given math problems to solve in a limited period of...

Here's my Photoshop drawing for today. I'm adding it to my collection of screen backgrounds.

Recently, I've laid the beads aside in my jewelry making efforts, and I've just played with wire. A couple weeks ago, I took five strands and braided them into a cool bracelet . More recently I've made a couple sets of whimsical earrings. It's kind of like drawing a squiggle, and then making the wire follow the line. Anyway, I like the designs.

On Tuesdays, I usually go to institute (and then blog about it), but this week they were cleaning the carpets in the building so institute was cancelled. I puttered around the house doing laundry and stuff, and then looked at the boys room, which had once again reached the point where it looked like a tornado had passed through and it was difficult to find the carpet, and came up with the idea of a Gunny Bag Buffet, thinking that if there really were gunny bag "monsters" who enjoyed eating leftover toys, they would have a blast in my boys' room. I came up with the menu, and posted it on the boys' bedroom door so they would see it when they got home from school. It served as a warning, so they could put away anything they cared about that evening. (They understood the warning, and tried a couple ways to get out of it, like moving the sign to Hannah's door, and crossing out the "Free" and writing "Payment: everything you ate before.") Yesterday...

I printed a menu for Gunny Bag , who might want to attend a free buffet tomorrow in my boys' room.      Do you think he will come?

Steven gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. After he gave his talk using only a brief outline, he came home and wrote it out completely. He gave me permission to share it here. “Take My Yoke Upon You” Talk given in sacrament meeting Jan 19, 2014 by Steven J. Hiatt One of our hymns asks some questions that we should take time to ponder: Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? (Hymns 241) All of us have burdens placed upon us, challenges we face, and difficulties we must endure. Think for a moment what burdens you are carrying. Many suffer from physical ailments and pains of body. Others have financial struggles and worries over the future. Some struggle with depression and self-doubt. Too many have been stung by the pains of divorce, or experienced the loss of a loved one, whether through death or from wrong choices. And then there are those who carry the grievous burden of sin and the tremendous consequences t...

Some of you may know that when Steven was in high school, he was involved in drama. He had parts in "Oklahoma" and "Me and My Girl", and other plays. Hannah has shown some interest in following in his footsteps, and last week she auditioned for, and got a part in, her high school's spring musical, " Thoroughly Modern Millie ". She is a "speed tappist/ stenographer". I don't think she has any lines, but she will get to do some dancing. Practices began this week, and are held every day after school, and so far she seems to be enjoying it.

Last night, I had the privilege of attending our ward's New Beginnings , a meeting to teach young women and their families about the Young Women program. The theme for the night was Dr. Seuss, and the decorations, and the refreshments, and the displays were Dr. Seuss-esque. They turned out really cute. (I'm sure the leaders found the idea on Pinterest somewhere.) Hannah and a friend performed the musical number for the evening, a violin/ viola duet of "A Child's Prayer" which I had arranged for them. If I had known they were only going to have about 1 1/2 hours of practice together, I would have made it a lot simpler for them. As it was, they did fine. Most people in the room weren't very musical and might not have been aware of the times they weren't quite in sync, or weren't hitting quite the right pitch. I admire their bravery in being willing to perform and share their talents. At the end of the evening, the Bishop stood up to speak, and to in...

Some Haiku to describe my day yesterday: Dark shadows chase me. I run, hide, full of terror then wake exhausted.      A brief flash of white,      A plummeting shooting star.      It begins to snow.           Sequins on my sleeve:           Glimmering, shining crystals           Of fresh fallen snow. Surrounded by friends studying ancient scripture: Institute heaven.      Dishes and laundry,      Blog, clutter, index and clean.      Then Doctor Who time. Kids arrive from school. The homework battle begins. How long till summer?      Pale white and rounded      islands rising from the sea:      toes in the bathtub.      ...

Institute resumed today after a three week break for the holidays, and the subject matter was Alma 8-16. Here are some of the thoughts that I came home with. Alma 8:14 - When Alma was weighed down with sorrow, wading through tribulation because of his troubles in doing the Lord's work, the Lord sent an angel to encourage him. The Lord supports his servants when they are striving to do his work. Alma 8:18 - Even though he had been reviled and cast out of the city of Ammonihah, when the angel told him to return, Alma returned speedily to the city. We receive the blessings when we are quick to obey. Because Alma was quick to obey, he received not only a meal when he was hungry (v.20), but also a companion in his labors and they were both filled with the Holy Ghost. (v. 30) Alma 13:3 - Men were called and prepared from the foundation of the world ... with a holy calling. I, too, was given certain callings and missions to fulfill in this life. A comment was made by a class m...

Yesterday I taught Relief Society, Chapter 1 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, entitled Our Father in Heaven . There is a lot of awesome stuff in this lesson, so I had to pick and choose which things I went over to make sure I would have enough time to get through to the end. I like the teaching help at the end of Chapter 2: "[Avoid] the temptation to cover too much material. . . . We are teaching people, not subject matter per se; and . . . every lesson outline that I have ever seen will inevitably have more in it than we can possibly cover in the allotted time" (Jeffrey R. Holland, "Teaching and Learning in the Church," Ensign , June 2007, 91). So my Relief Society got a condensed version. But here I don't have as many constraints (or discussion) so here are the thoughts I had on the lesson. Since this was the first lesson we had from this book, I began by showing a picture of the prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, and briefly...

In a couple days, I'll get to teach lesson 1 from the new Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith . I'll probably post about it on Monday. This morning, I was thinking, what if, instead of teaching lesson 1, I got to teach about his life and ministry instead. (In past years, I think our RS Presidency might have done this the first week, but this year they chose to have an amazing lesson on visiting teaching instead, so the life and ministry won't be taught in our ward, besides what bits we teachers give in our regular lessons.) So what if I were teaching about his life? How would I do it? Since it is Relief Society, I would teach it through the eyes of the women in his life. Perhaps I would invite different sisters in the ward to each present a part of his life from her point of view. Julina Lambson Smith : his mother. She would tell about his heritage as grandson of Hyrum Smith, son of Joseph F. Smith. She might tell about her vow that if God woul...

Occasionally, in Church classes, there are questions that go unanswered. Sometimes they aren't pertaining to the subject matter being discussed at the time. Sometimes there isn't sufficient time in the class period to answer every question. Sometimes no one knows what the true answer is. Several weeks ago, a woman asked a question that I didn't feel was fully answered at the time. I wasn't teaching the class, but I heard her repeating the same question, obviously not hearing a satisfying answer. Her question: What should we do if the country's laws are contrary to God's laws? "We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring and sustaining the law." (Article of Faith 12) We believe in obeying the law of the land in which we live. There may be times, however, when we don't feel that the laws of the land in which we live are in harmony with God's laws. When this happens, there are a few things we...

I find that there is something I really like about taking tools in hand to create something beautiful, or useful, or just plain interesting. I've mentioned this before in my blog on creativity . For Christmas, I received some wire, and I've had fun playing with it. Last weekend I made this pendant by wrapping wire around a stone:  Yesterday, I crafted this bracelet by braiding together five wires. It holds its shape really well, so I didn't need to add a clasp, just bend it to the shape of my wrist. There really is something very satisfying about making these things, about using my hands and tools to bend and twist and shape and create. I realized some time ago that I enjoy making jewelry a lot more than I care about wearing it. The joy comes in the crafting, in the creating.

Yesterday, in a last effort to keep the kids entertained for one more day before they returned to school, we pulled out the art supplies. I received some watercolors for Christmas, and so I, too, sat down to try to remember how watercolors work exactly. I don't think I've used watercolors in the last twenty years, so it felt a bit weird, but it was fun. Here are the results of our artistic endeavors, with photos taken by Joshua: Joshua's painting Peter's painting Hannah's painting Me, while I was painting. Here is my completed painting:

Six days into the new year and we are almost back to normal life again. I enjoyed our Christmas Day. It was quietly spent at home. We woke up and opened gifts, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, played with new gifts and enjoyed a delicious dinner at home. We appreciate the gifts that we received from distant family members, including a tiny wooden bird perch, which was crafted by Steven's Grandpa Donald, who passed away in November, but left Christmas gifts packaged and ready to mail. Steven's mom gave us a new DVD/Blue Ray player for Christmas (the old DVD player we had was possessed and would turn itself off randomly in the middle of movies), but we weren't able to hook it up because our TV set was too old to have the right connections. So, the Saturday after Christmas we did some research and took advantage of the gift card from Steven's Dad, and some other resources we received, to order a brand new flat screen TV.   On New Years' Eve we stayed ho...